[Endorphines--the endogenous ligands of opiate receptors (author's transl)].

The demonstration of opiate receptors in the nervous tissue of vertebrates in 1973 was the starting point of an intensive search for the endogenous ligands of these receptors. During the following years, several of such "edogenous opiates", called "endorphines", were isolated from various tissues of the mammalian organism. These are peptides which are able to elicit the same effects as do opiates. Possibly, they play a role in the reaction of the organism to stress.