Cognitive Effects of Nicotine: Recent Progress.

Cognitive Effects of Nicotine: Recent Progress.
Curr Neuropharmacol. 2017 Nov 03;:
Authors: Valentine G, Sofuoglu M
Abstract
Cigarette smoking is the main cause of preventable death in developed countries. Given the limited effectiveness of currently available treatments, there is a great need to identify new treatment approaches for tobacco use disorder (TUD). While the direct positive behavioral reinforcing effect of nicotine has historically been considered the primary mechanism driving the development of TUD, accumulating contemporary research suggests that the cognitive-enhancing effects of nicotine may also significantly contribute to the initiation and maintenance of TUD, especially in individuals with pre-existing cognitive deficits. Attention, working memory, fine motor skills and episodic memory functions are particularly sensitive to nicotine's effects and recent studies have demonstrated that the α4, β2, and α7 subunits of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) participate in the cognitive-enhancing effects of nicotine. Because poor cognitive performance at baseline predicts relapse among smokers who are attempting to quit smoking, studies examining the potential efficacy of cognitive-enhancement as strategy for the treatment of TUD may lead to the development of more efficacious interventions.
PMID: 29110618 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Current Neuropharmacology - November 3, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Valentine G, Sofuoglu M Tags: Curr Neuropharmacol Source Type: research