Comment · Fri, January 17, 2014 · Ceretropic
Nicotine and cognitive decline
Original post in this thread
darbyhouston · 17 points
"Evidence suggests that non-smokers are up to twice as likely as smokers to develop Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's disease.[106] A plausible explanation for these cases may be the effect of nicotine, a cholinergic stimulant, increasing the levels of acetylcholine in the smoker's brain; Parkinson's disease occurs when the effect of dopamine is less than that of acetylcholine. In addition, nicotine stimulates the mesolimbic dopamine pathway (as do other drugs of abuse), causing an effective increase in dopamine levels. Opponents counter by noting that consumption of pure nicotine may be as beneficial as smoking without the risks associated with smoking, although this is unlikely due to the importance of the MAO-B inhibitor compounds of tobacco in preventing neurodegenerative diseases."
Almeida OP, Hulse GK, Lawrence D, Flicker L (2002). "Smoking as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease: contrasting evidence from a systematic review of case-control and cohort studies". Addiction 97 (1): 15–28
---This is a summary of some cognitive effects of nicotine. I wanted to post this as an opening of a larger discussion on the cognitive effects of tobacco and nicotine in general.
---Do…
What they were answering
[deleted] · 1 points
[deleted]
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
If you think about it, it makes sense. Both caffeine and nicotine lead in indirect increases in dopamine, so they do have an addiction profile. However, using MAOIs to directly increase the levels of multiple neurotransmitters is going to be much more addictive. Then stepping up to a direct releaser of dopamine, like amphetamine, is going to be even more so.
It's all about activating the reward pathway with the least amount of side effects. Caffeine and nicotine both do, but have large side effect profiles that prevent them from tipping the scales too far. Opiates and amphetamines activate the reward pathway much more, and with fewer side effects. That's a simplistic view of it, but it gives a basic idea behind addiction profiles. ACh is really not the pathway to activate for addiction.