Search results for "Nicotine"
showing 10 items of 145 documents
Smoking Habits, Nicotine Use, and Congenital Malformations
2006
OBJECTIVE: We examined whether maternal smoking and use of nicotine substitutes during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy increased the prevalence of congenital malformations in general and of certain congenital malformations in particular. METHODS: In the Danish National Birth Cohort (1997– 2003) we identified 76,768 pregnancies (and their subsequent singleton births); 20,603 were exposed to tobacco smoking during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Birth outcomes were collected by linkage to the Central Population Register, the National Patients Register, and the National Birth Register. We identified congenital malformations from the Hospital Medical Birth Registry as they were recorded at bir…
A polygenic approach to the association between smoking and schizophrenia.
2021
Smoking prevalence in schizophrenia is considerably larger than in general population, playing an important role in early mortality. We compared the polygenic contribution to smoking in schizophrenic patients and controls to assess if genetic factors may explain the different prevalence. Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for smoking initiation and four genetically correlated traits were calculated in 1108 schizophrenic patients (64.4% smokers) and 1584 controls (31.1% smokers). PRSs for smoking initiation, educational attainment, body mass index and age at first birth were associated with smoking in patients and controls, explaining a similar percentage of variance in both groups. Attention-defi…
Effects of acute administration of nicotine and lobeline on agonistic encounters in male mice
2000
The effects of acute administration of two nicotinic ligands, (-)-nicotine and (-)-lobeline were examined on isolation-induced aggression in mice. Individually housed male mice confronted anosmic “standard opponents” in a neutral arena 10 min after drug administration. Encounters were videotaped and evaluated using an ethologically based analysis facilitating estimation of time allocated to 11 broad behavioral categories. Nicotine did not have significant effects on threat or attack but significantly diminished time allocated to digging. The lowest dose of lobeline significantly diminished attack and induced a slight increase of immobility without significantly diminishing other behaviors w…
Neuroprotective effects of behavioural training and nicotine on age-related deficits in spatial learning.
2006
Studies in humans and animals show a clear decline in spatial memory with age and several approaches have been adopted to alleviate this impairment. The purpose of our review is to assess the studies that have suggested the possible neuroprotective actions of behavioural training and nicotine-applied both independently and in conjunction-on age-related deficits in spatial learning. Both spatial pretraining and nonspatial experiences influence an animal's performance in spatial tasks. In aged rats, the experience of training in the water maze task increases the number of newly generated neurons in the hippocampus. The neuroprotective effects of nicotine have been demonstrated in both in-vitr…
Acetylcholine and nicotine stimulate the release of granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor from cultured human bronchial epithelial cells.
1998
Primary cultures of human bronchial epithelial cells (HBE-cells) were established to measure granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) release. HBE-cells showed a basal GM-CSF release (82+/-20 ng/well/24 h; 30 donors), which was increased by interleukin-1 beta(IL-1beta, 1 ng/ml) by 270%. This effect was blocked by 1 microM dactinomycin or 10 microM cycloheximide, i.e. the stimulatory effect of IL-1beta depended on de-novo synthesis. Histamine (100 microM) and acetylcholine ( 100 nM) stimulated GM-CSF release more than two-fold above the baseline. Nicotine (1 microM) increased GM-CSF release to a similar extent, and this effect was prevented by 30 microM (+)-tubocurarine. The…
The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist ABT-594 increases FGF-2 expression in various rat brain regions
2000
The present experiments were designed to extend previous work showing that acute intermittent (-)nicotine treatment upregulates the level of fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF2) mRNA in several rat brain regions, by the use of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) agonist ABT-594 with preferential selectivity for the alpha4beta2 nAChR subtype. ABT594 treatment led to a well-defined temporal and regional upregulation of FGF-2 mRNA. A double labelling analysis showed that the up-regulation of FGF-2 mRNA involves both neuronal and non-neuronal cells. The effects of ABT-594 on FGF-2 expression were antagonized by the preferential alpha4beta2 antagonist dihydrobetaerythroidine (DHbetaE), but…
Autoinhibition of nicotinic release of noradrenaline from postganglionic sympathetic nerves
1970
1. The effects of nicotine, DMPP (1,1-dimethylphenylpiperazine) and acetylcholine (plus atropine) on the isolated rabbit heart were investigated. Heart rate, amplitude of contraction, coronary flow and output of noradrenaline into the perfusate were recorded. Noradrenaline was estimated fluorimetrically. 2. All nicotinic drugs evoked a dose-dependent output of noradrenaline and increased the rate and the amplitude of contraction. Increases of heart rate in response to nicotine and DMPP and increases of amplitude of contraction in response to all nicotinic drugs were clearly related to the output of noradrenaline. 3. The dose-response curves of the noradrenaline output evoked by nicotine, DM…
Short-term e-cigarette vapour exposure causes vascular oxidative stress and dysfunction: evidence for a close connection to brain damage and a key ro…
2019
Abstract Aims Electronic (e)-cigarettes have been marketed as a ‘healthy’ alternative to traditional combustible cigarettes and as an effective method of smoking cessation. There are, however, a paucity of data to support these claims. In fact, e-cigarettes are implicated in endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress in the vasculature and the lungs. The mechanisms underlying these side effects remain unclear. Here, we investigated the effects of e-cigarette vapour on vascular function in smokers and experimental animals to determine the underlying mechanisms. Methods and results Acute e-cigarette smoking produced a marked impairment of endothelial function in chronic smokers determined b…
Passive exposure to nicotine from e-cigarettes
2016
A procedure based on the use of ion mobility spectrometry (IMS), after liquid-liquid microextraction (LLME), has been successfully employed for the determination of passive exposure to nicotine from cigarette and e-cigarette smoking. Nicotine has been determined in exhaled breath and oral fluids of both, active and passive smokers. The aforementioned studies, made in closed environments, evidenced that the exhaled breath after conventional blend cigarette smoke provides nicotine levels of the order of 220 ng per puff, in the case of experienced smokers, being exhaled only 32 ng in the case of e-cigarettes. On the other hand, the nicotine amount in oral fluids of passive vapers was between 8…
Defining substance use disorders: do we really need more than heavy use?
2013
Aims: The aim of the study was to explore whether the concept of heavy substance use over time can be used as definition of substance use disorder. Methods: Narrative review. Results: Heavy use over time clearly underlies the neurobiological changes asso- ciated with current thinking of substance use disorders. In addition, there is evidence that heavy use over time can explain the majority of social problems and of burden of disease (morbidity and mortality). A definition of substance use disorders via heavy use over time would avoid some of the problems of current conceptualizations, for instance the cultural specificity of concepts such as loss of control. Finally, stressing the continuu…