Posted on 07/17/2004 5:17:58 PM PDT by MadIvan
Nicotine could soon be rehabilitated as a treatment for schizophrenia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, as well as hyperactivity disorders.
Research shows that the chemical that has addicted millions to smoking has a powerful impact on brain activity in patients who suffer from psychiatric and degenerative disorders.
Some experiments have shown that nicotine can slow down the onset of Parkinson's symptoms; others have had revealed its power in curtailing the hallucinations of schizophrenics.
'A whole range of psychiatric conditions seem to be helped by nicotine,' said Dr Dan McGehee, a neurobiologist at the University of Chicago. 'However, such benefits do not justify smoking. The lethal effects of cigarettes far outweigh any help they provide. On the other hand, our research does suggest that derivatives of nicotine, administered medically, could help to alleviate a range of psychiatric problems.'
Nicotine is known to switch on receptors on the surface of cells in certain parts of the brain, causing these neurones to release the neuro-transmitter dopamine, a chemical that is associated with feelings of pleasure. This effect leads to a person's addiction.
More than 50 per cent of people suffering from clinical depression smoke, while the figure rises to 95 per cent for schizophrenics. But smoking among the general public has dropped to about 25 per cent. 'The assumption is that people with psychiatric conditions are self-medicating,' said McGehee. 'They are smoking because the nicotine in particularly helpful in alleviating their condition.'
This point is backed by Dr Tony George, of Yale University. 'Smoking is a marker for psychopathology,' he states in the current issue of the journal Nature Medicine.
Similarly, it has been found that nicotine can sometimes slow the debilitating symptoms of Parkinson's, a disease caused by the slow destruction of certain types of brain cells.
'Either nicotine stimulates other types of brain cells to compensate for the loss of the cells involved in Parkinson's, or it is somehow providing protection to remaining healthy Parkinson's cells,' said McGehee. 'Either way, the effect is noticeable.'
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
and the earth is flat.
ping
Ping...
Many moons ago, the comedy managinze "Spy" mentioned as an aside that some
studies had shown some beneficial effects from nicotine, if applied in the right
dose/route.
IIRC, one of these was the use of nicotine to basically prevent all the
negative effects of jet-lag.
You may believe that the earth is flat, but the nicotine-dopamine connection is very well established.
Oh, great. Now they're calling us crazy.
Well, that explains why about 99% of patients in psych wards smoke like chimneys...
That, and the fact that there's not a lot else to do.
Where is Woody Allen??
If there are benefits to nicotine (and there may well be; this isn't the first time this idea has been advanced), I would assume there are better ways of delivering the drug (patches, pills, gum, whatever) than setting dead leaves afire and sucking the smoke into one's lungs, which is, well, stupid.
And I predicted this years ago - that all the howling anti-tobacco fanatics would someday learn that nicotine had medicinal properties.
LOL
I'm surprised that wasn't mentioned in the article. And I'd say many smokers I've known are at least partially psychotic.
So maybe smokers would be better off just using a nicotine patch. Then, women who smoke wouldn't develop leathery faces, yellow teeth, and wheezing manly voices.
On nicotine, I would bet that 70% of Freepers are smokers. This is based on many, many Freeps. Just an observation now, nothing scientific.
I'll take that bet...
Perhaps you should have made your bet, 70% of freepers either smoke or hate smoking nazis, while 30% loathe and despise smokers and would send them to outer space if possible. It's an irrational hatred, I don't get it.
I'm not a smoker, but the domestic partner is and the vast sums of money he spends on the pursuit free me to buy books and other necessities without that annoying guilt thing.
"Oh, great. Now they're calling us crazy."
We aren't? I quit smoking three years ago this past April, and my body went to hell. A friend of mine who is an MD said to me in jest, "For fifty years tar and nicotine have held your body together, and now that you have quit smoking it is falling apart."
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