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Concept

Beta-endorphin

A circular structure with numerous orange spheres connected by thin filaments radiates outward against a dark background, symbolizing beta-endorphin, an opioid peptide.

An opioid peptide thirty-one amino acids long, cleaved from the same precursor protein as ACTH and released by the pituitary in response to pain, exercise and stress. It binds the same mu-opioid receptors that respond to morphine and heroin, producing analgesia and, in sufficient quantity, euphoria. Its discovery in the 1970s by Choh Hao Li and others explained why the body has its own internal opium.

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