BACKGROUND Rate of nicotine metabolism is an important factor influencing cigarette smoking behavior, dependence, and efficacy of nicotine replacement therapy. The current study examined the hypothesis that chronic alcohol abuse can accelerate the rate of nicotine metabolism. Nicotine metabolite ratio (NMR, a biomarker for rate of nicotine metabolism) and patterns of nicotine metabolites were a...

Nicotine replacement therapy is believed to facilitate smoking cessation both by relieving withdrawal symptoms and by reducing the psychological reward from smoking. The latter might occur via down-regulation of nicotine receptors in the brain, which might require high levels of nicotine exposure. Our study examined the hypothesis that transdermal nicotine, dosed up to three times the doses cur...

Maternal smoking is a risk factor associated with nicotine abuse, so the effect of perinatal nicotine exposure was studied on the responsiveness to nicotine across adolescence in the rat. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with s.c. Alzet osmotic minipumps delivering nicotine (L-nicotine hydrogen tartrate, 2 mg/kg/day free base) or vehicle (0.9% saline) on gestational day 7. There was ...

Nicotine enhances attention, working memory and recognition. One of the brain regions associated with these effects nicotine is medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). However, cellular mechanisms that induce enhancing remain unclear. To address this issue, we performed whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from mPFC layer 5 pyramidal neurons in slices C57BL/6J mice. Shortly (approx. 2 min) after bath app...

The aim of the study was to examine genetic, pharmacokinetic, and demographic factors that influence sensitivity to nicotine in never-smokers. Sixty never-smokers, balanced for gender and race (white, black, and Asian), wore 7-mg nicotine skin patches for up to 8 h. Serial plasma nicotine concentrations and subjective and cardiovascular effects were measured, and genetic variation in the CYP2A6...

In various studies nicotine has shown to alter cognitive functions in non-smoking subjects. The physiological basis for these effects might be nicotine-generated modulation of cortical structure, excitability, and activity, as mainly described in animal experiments. In accordance, a recently conducted study demonstrated that application of nicotine for hours via nicotine patch in non-smoking hu...

The motivational effects of nicotine were examined in mice using an unbiased place conditioning design. Swiss-Webster mice received four 15-min parings of a tactile stimulus with different doses of nicotine (0.25-2.0 mg/kg, IP). A different tactile stimulus was paired with saline injections. During conditioning, nicotine produced locomotor depression at the 2.0-mg/kg dose, with the greatest red...

BACKGROUND The U.S. FDA has the authority to limit the nicotine content of cigarettes; however, there are concerns that reduced nicotine cigarettes will be smoked more intensely and, therefore, will increase exposure to toxic chemicals in smoke. This study examined changes in consumer behavior and exposure in response to cigarettes with substantially reduced nicotine content. METHODS Seventy-...

We measured the nicotine concentrations in tissues after a bolus i.v. administration of [(3)H]nicotine to rats to characterize the distribution profile of nicotine. The kidney showed the greatest distribution of nicotine compared to other tissues including liver, lung, heart, brain, and intestine. We also performed an HPLC assay for the determination of nicotine and its major metabolite, cotini...

The development of abnormal involuntary movements (AIMs) or dyskinesias is a serious complication of L-DOPA [L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine] therapy for Parkinson's disease. Our previous work had shown that intermittent nicotine dosing reduced L-DOPA-induced dyskinetic-like movements in nonhuman primates. A readily available nicotine formulation is the nicotine patch, which provides a constant so...