Nicotine's New Appeal
The negative affects of cigarette smoking are well known, including the addiction to nicotine. Smokers have noted that nicotine can calm muscle spasms, increase cognition, and weight loss. Scientists at Targacept Inc are currently working on a series of pharmaceuticals that act similar to nicotine to help improve the brain activity in Alzheimer's disease, decrease tremors in Parkinson's disease, and treating hyperactivity, pain, and mental diseases.
Many neurological diseases are caused by problems with neurotransmitters. While most drugs act on a single neurotransmitter, nicotine can affect many at one time. It binds to several receptors at once, mostly those for acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is known to affect attentiveness, learning, and memory. The drug developed for Alzheimer's disease is designed to bind to the alpha-4-beta-2 receptors in the brain and boost other neurotransmitters.
Much of the research has been inhibited by the views of the negative effects of nicotine, especially that it is very addictive. It is thought that even though the drugs only mimic nicotine that they will still be addictive and cause other unwanted side effects. First time users of these early pharmaceuticals experienced similar effects as first time smokers: nausea, dizziness, and diahrea.
I found this article interesting because scientists are using the effects of a known "harmful" drug and are attempting to modify it to improve the living conditions of the mentally impaired, whether through loss of memory or loss of muscle control.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/37955/title/Nicotines_new_appeal
Many neurological diseases are caused by problems with neurotransmitters. While most drugs act on a single neurotransmitter, nicotine can affect many at one time. It binds to several receptors at once, mostly those for acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is known to affect attentiveness, learning, and memory. The drug developed for Alzheimer's disease is designed to bind to the alpha-4-beta-2 receptors in the brain and boost other neurotransmitters.
Much of the research has been inhibited by the views of the negative effects of nicotine, especially that it is very addictive. It is thought that even though the drugs only mimic nicotine that they will still be addictive and cause other unwanted side effects. First time users of these early pharmaceuticals experienced similar effects as first time smokers: nausea, dizziness, and diahrea.
I found this article interesting because scientists are using the effects of a known "harmful" drug and are attempting to modify it to improve the living conditions of the mentally impaired, whether through loss of memory or loss of muscle control.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/37955/title/Nicotines_new_appeal
posted by Erica Moore at 12:59 PM
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