Opiates such as morphine and heroin act upon the body's nervous system to cause euphoria and block pain. In 1973, natural opioids, which behave in the same way as opiates, but have a different structure, were pulled out of the body. It appears that when the body is under serious assault, nerve cells spit out these opioids, which promptly bind to other nerve cells to stop pain signals dead in their tracks. At the same time, they fasten onto sites in the brain to induce a feeling of wellbeing. Anandamide, like the natural opioids, will probably have its own specific set of jobs to perform in the brain and body.
Researchers intend to find out.
Others want to tinker with anandamide to make a version that binds to the receptor but doesn't trigger any change in the nerve's behaviour. Added to a mouse, it would stop the body's real, internal anandamide from doing its job. Researchers are also excited by anandamide's possible role in mental and neurological disease. There are also other questions to be asked. It will take more time before anandamide is firmly established as the bona fide partner to the cannabinoid receptor.