Why are antidepressant drugs effective smoking cessation aids?

Why are antidepressant drugs effective smoking cessation aids? Curr Neuropharmacol. 2017 Sep 15;: Authors: Shoaib M, Buhidma Y Abstract Before the advent of varenicline, antidepressant drugs were reported to exhibit better clinical efficacy than nicotine replacement therapy as smoking cessation aids. The most studied is bupropion, a clinically-effective antidepressant, the first to be marketed throughout Europe for smoking cessation. The mechanisms behind bupropion's efficacy as a smoking cessation compound remains unclear. Since depression and tobacco smoking have a high incidence of co-occurrence, this would implicate an underlying link between these two conditions. If this correlation can be confirmed, then by treating one condition the related state would also be treated. Various aspects of research have evaluated the theories and mechanisms that link tobacco smoking and depression to explain the action of antidepressants in smoking cessation. There is a popular theory of self-medication which suspects that people take nicotine to treat their own depressive symptoms and the affective withdrawal symptoms seen with abstinence from the drug. If the depression can instead be treated with antidepressants, then they may stop smoking altogether. Another theory is that the neurobiological pathways underlying smoking and depression may be similar. By targeting the pathways of depression in the brain, antidepressants would also treat the p...
Source: Current Neuropharmacology - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: Curr Neuropharmacol Source Type: research