Professor Graeme Henderson
BSc Hons, PhD
Current positions
Contact
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Research interests
Our research is aimed at understanding the lethality of opioid drugs such as heroin, methadone and fentanyl in opioid overdose and how their lethality (through depression of respiration) can be enhanced by other drugs such as alcohol and gabapentinoids.
Prolonged use of opioids results in the development of tolerance whereby the effect of the drug (euphoria or respiratory depression) is reduced and more drug must be taken to induce the original level of effect. We have demonstrated that the mechanisms underlying tolerance may be different for different opioids and that alcohol and gabapentinoids lower heroin but not methadone tolerance.
We use a reverse translational approach whereby we interview heroin users to find out their views on the dangers of opioid overdose and how that may be altered by other drugs. We then perform controlled laboratory experiments to examine the cellular mechanisms underlying such interactions.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Opioid overdose deaths: Understanding the lethal interactions between benzodiazepines and opioids to develop new harm reduction strategies
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Physiology, Pharmacology & NeuroscienceDates
01/07/2022 to 30/06/2025
Opioid overdose deaths: Understanding the lethal interactions between benzodiazepines and opioids to develop new harm reduction strategies
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Physiology, Pharmacology & NeuroscienceDates
01/07/2022 to 30/06/2025
Fentanyl Overdose Deaths: Under - Collaboration Agreement - University of Nottingham
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Physiology, Pharmacology & NeuroscienceDates
01/04/2019 to 31/12/2021
Fentanyl Overdose Deaths: Underlying Mechanisms
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Physiology, Pharmacology & NeuroscienceDates
01/04/2019 to 31/07/2022
Fentanyl Overdose Deaths: Underlying Mechanisms
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Physiology, Pharmacology & NeuroscienceDates
01/04/2019 to 31/03/2022
Thesis supervisions
Publications
Recent publications
02/04/2023Carfentanil is a β-arrestin-biased agonist at the μ opioid receptor
British Journal of Pharmacology
Comparison of the effects of fentanyls and other μ opioid receptor agonists on the electrical activity of respiratory muscles in the rat
Frontiers in Pharmacology
New synthetic cannabinoids and the potential for cardiac arrhythmia risk
Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology
Biased Agonism: Lessons from Studies of Opioid Receptor Agonists
Annual review of pharmacology and toxicology
A comparative study of the harms of nitrous oxide and poppers using the MCDA approach.
Drug Science, Policy and Law