Buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid addiction, may lead to breathing issues in obese patients, according to a mouse study published in Anesthesiology.
A team of researchers from University of Tennessee and UT Medical Center, both based in Knoxville, examined mice of normal weight as well as obese mice.
The researchers found buprenorphine impairs the ability of obese mice to vary their breathing.
"Given the impressive similarity between mouse and human genes, the mouse data encourage studying the effects of buprenorphine on breathing variability in male and female obese humans," said Ralph Lydic, the Robert H. Cole Endowed Professor of Neuroscience in the UT department of psychology and the department of anesthesiology at UT Medical Center.
A grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health supported the study.