Contact

Duke Health News

919-660-1306

DURHAM, N.C. - Despite its deserved reputation as a health
hazard, research over the past decade reveals that nicotine may
have some beneficial effects on certain health conditions and
diseases.

On Oct. 20, scientists will gather at Duke University to
discuss nicotine and nicotine-like drugs as potential
treatments for Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, Tourette's
syndrome, Parkinson's disease, smoking cessation, depression
and pain. Conference presenters also will discuss how people's
response to nicotine differs by gender and age.

"For a long time, nicotine has had a bad reputation,
stemming from the serious health risks of cigarette smoking.
While we know that smoking is bad for people, we have found
that the drug in cigarettes - nicotine - can be medically
useful," said Edward Levin, associate professor of psychiatry
and pharmacology at Duke Medical Center.

Today, the only approved medical use of nicotine is in gum
or a skin patch to help alleviate a smoker's craving for the
drug. In addition to its use as a smoking-cessation aide,
researchers are now looking at other potential health benefits
of nicotine and nicotine-like drugs.

For the past five years, Levin has organized the annual
conference with Duke neuroscientist and nicotine researcher Jed
Rose. Rose is a medical research professor in the department of
psychiatry and chief of the Duke/Veterans Administration
Nicotine Research Laboratory. Levin and Rose will be joined by
more than a dozen nicotine researchers from across the country
as presenters at the day-long conference.

Conference topics include:

• How nicotine affects people differently as they age.
  Research has already shown that in fetuses and newborns,
  nicotine can damage growing brains. Now, Levin is studying
  the effects of nicotine in adolescent rats, whose brains are
  still developing, to determine if the same type of damage
  occurs.
• How nicotine affects adults with mild memory loss. "Among
  older adults with mild memory loss, nicotine seems to have
  the positive effect of delaying nerve degeneration in the
  brain," Levin said. He is interested in determining how
  seniors' memory and thinking might benefit from
  nicotine.
• The results of a preliminary trial of eight patients with
  Alzheimer's Disease who were treated with nicotine skin
  patches to see if their memory, attentiveness and overall
  functioning improved. Over the four-week test period, the
  patients improved in one of the three areas measured --
  attentiveness. "The results encourage us to look at nicotine
  further to see how it could be even more effective, perhaps
  when given at a higher dose or in combination with another
  drug," Levin said.
• Research on ways to improve the success of people who try
  to quit smoking. Researchers are trying to determine why the
  nicotine skin patch is not as effective in helping women to
  quit smoking as it is in men. The most recent research by
  Rose, who co-invented the nicotine skin patch, shows women
  are twice as successful in kicking the habit when given
  mecamylamine, a nicotine-blocking drug, in addition to the
  nicotine skin patch. A combination patch (containing both
  nicotine and mecamylamine) is now being tested to obtain U.S.
  Food and Drug Administration approval. "Our findings suggest
  that by tailoring our smoking-cessation programs for women
  with this combination treatment, we may be able to help them
  be more successful quitters," Rose said.
• Gender-related differences in nicotine research with male
  and female mice. Imad Damaj, Ph.D., of the Medical College of
  Virginia, has found that males were more sensitive to
  nicotine's analgesic (pain-killing) effects. Why this
  difference exists is not clear, but Damaj will discuss how he
  is exploring possible links to genetics, hormones, drug
  metabolism and other factors.
• Research on the effect of nicotine on schizophrenics.
  Sherry Leonard, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and
  pharmacology at University of Colorado Health Sciences
  Center, will discuss how smoking rates among the mentally
  ill, particularly schizophrenics, are very high. Nicotine has
  been shown to normalize an auditory sensory deficit found in
  schizophrenia. Leonard is investigating possible genetic
  reasons for this sensory deficit among schizophrenics.