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Nicotine
Uni of Notts, Addiction & The Brain, first year
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Legal differences in marketing of cigarettes | Originally advertised to help WW2 soldiers cope with stress but now they must be bought in packs of >19 with the voted most ugly colours, health warnings, minimal branding, & graphic medical pictures of smoking damage |
| Economic damage of tobacco products | UK government spends up to £19bn per annum on treating tobacco related illnesses & helping overcome addiction (studies show it's potentially more addictive than heroin) |
| Cultivation & properties of tobacco plants | Grown only in mild, sunny climates. Roots synthesise neurotoxic insecticide which are transported to leaves, this makes up 0.6-3% of their dry weight |
| Pharmacology of smoking cigarettes | 6-11mg nicotine per cigarette but only 1-3mg is absorbed. It binds to acidic tar molecules to rapidly & efficiently diffuse across the alveolar membrane to the bloodstream where it crosses the BBB in high concentration |
| How the pharmacology of non-smoked tobacco products differ from cigarettes | Since burning tobacco leaves produces the tar, non-smoked products require significantly higher nicotine concentrations to have similar effects but can't replicate the same spike of nicotine release & instant high of cigarettes |
| Neural mechanism of nicotine | activates nACh receptors in the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPT) to cause an action potential, stimulating dopaminergic VTA cells to increase dopamine concentration in the nucleus accumbens |
| Nicotinic VTA excitation study in mice Fa et al. (2000) | Administered tobacco smoke to mice & measured VTA excitability using microelectrodes but when antagonist mecamylamine is administered, excitability decreases |
| Connection of mesolimbic pathway to survival behaviour Routtenberg & Lindy (1965) | Rats with intracranial electrodes to stimulate the mesolimbic pathway when they press a lever will forgo natural rewards such as food & sex for stimulation even to the point of starvation |
| Connection between nicotine & dopamine release study in rats David (2006) | Intracranial injections of nicotine to VTA using a Skinner box increased dopamine concentration in the nucleus accumbens but they stopped this behaviour when dopamine or ACh antagonists are administered |
| Effects of age on dependence Levin et al. (2003) | Adolescents up to 25 years old who tried tobacco products are more likely to become addicted. Adolescent rats self-administering worked harder for nicotine & took higher doses |
| DSM dependence criteria | Tolerance: Higher dose for same effect Withdrawal: Taking in the morning to help wake up Dose escalation: Using more tobacco than intended (chain smoking) Difficulty cutting down: Despite financial or medical issues |
| Prevalence of nicotine dependence | 60% of users meet DSM criteria. Many people try it at least once & nearly 1/3 of users become dependent at some point but this also depends on vulnerabilities |
| Genetic impact on addiction susceptibility | Variation in nicotine-specific hydrolytic enzymes & receptors affect rate of metabolism. Slower metabolism means individuals smoke less cigarettes for the same effect decreasing likelihood of addiction |
| Withdrawal symptoms (4) | Urges & cravings, anxiousness & irritability, restlessness & difficulty staying focused, insomnia |
| Challenges of achieving long-term abstinence | Smokers adjust dosage to maintain nicotine levels & prevent withdrawal. When trying to quit, relapses are likely to occur when the drug is accessible & allowed to be taken (situational variables) |
| Nicotine replacement therapy (+a disadvantage) | Using alternative sources of nicotine, maintaining nACh receptor occupancy to reduce cravings. Alternatives include patch + gum, spray, lozenges, inhalators. This may lead to transfer dependence |
| Antidepressant therapy (+a disadvantage) | Using selective dopamine & noradrenalin reuptake inhibitor bupropion/Zyban to counteract emotional withdrawal. The 12 month abstinence success rate is low with 2% of placebo trials successful |
| Habit based accounts | Automatic drug-seeking behaviour driven by situational variables with insensitivity to the outcome |
| Stimulus response theory | Pavlovian conditioning theory. Nicotine as the UCS with the sight, smell, & action of lighting the cigarette as the CS to reinforce drug-seeking behaviour |
| Insensitive salience (attentional bias) theory (+Stroop test results) | Stimuli relating to the drug become high priority for attention & wanting it despite pleasure fading. Addicts were slower to name colours of words relating to drugs on the Stroop test. Greater attention bias correlates with worse clinical outcomes |
| Outcome devaluation studies | Testing if behaviour is habit or goal directed by first supporting a neutral behaviour with a reward then changing the environment to 1 where the reward is freely accessible but the stimulus is still there. If they continue the behaviour, it's habit based |
| Goal directed accounts | Deliberate behaviours based on expectancy theory of the value of outcomes |
| Example of stimulus devaluation (lithium chloride) | LiCl causes sickness in rats, adding it to sucrose will devalue the reward & stop them taking it showing goal direction however, devaluing drugs doesn't work showing habit direction |
| Refutation of habit based accounts of nicotine addiction: Cravings | Despite cravings being compulsive, the decision to seek out a drug despite consequences or lack of pleasure is a conscious decision. No model can account for all available nicotine data |
| Phenomenon accompanying cravings | A mental image of taking the drug & feeling its positive effects showing a schema of drug expectations leading to drug seeking behaviour |
| Expectancy theory | Behaviour is goal directed but driven by learned outcomes. Classical conditioning only causes a response with accompanying mental image. Knowledge of benefits of a behaviour make it more likely to be acted out |
Created by:
Beech47
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