Everyone who has ever become addicted to nicotine addiction knows how difficult it is to break free from this addiction, but fighting the urge to smoke in situations that were previously associated with smoking can be an even more difficult test for a person without endurance. But help can be at hand. So, a new inhibitor, developed by scientists from the Center for Addiction and Mental Health under the guidance of Professor Fan Liu, helped nicotine-dependent rats pass the test.
According to information published in the journal Experimental Medicine, American scientists from Toronto have developed an inhibitor that helps rats previously afflicted with nicotine addiction to resist temptation and remain calm when familiar irritants associated with nicotine feeding appear.
Liu and colleagues found that long-term exposure to nicotine causes two neurotransmitter receptors in the brain to interact, but this interaction can be prevented. But the inhibitor did not affect rats that were trained to receive nicotine supplementation on their own. Their tendency to satisfy their desires remained unchanged. As for rodents weaned from nicotine, that is, “former smokers,” the inhibitor reduced the number of relapses caused by exposure to environmental stimuli that had previously been associated with a dose of nicotine.
If an inhibitor acts in exactly the same way on people, it can become a powerful new tool that will help reduce the number of relapses in those who quit smoking or chewing tobacco.
