Nicotine, a chemical substance derived from the tobacco plant, alters neurological function once consumed by the human body. Nicotine plays a large role in mimicking the neurotransmitter dopamine once inside of the brain and deals with memory, cognition, perception, and a wide variety of primary functions associated with the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex (Livingstone et al., 2009). It provides a state of heightened neural activity due to more excitatory neurotransmitters present within synaptic clefts of neurons. This extra molecular presence within the synaptic gaps can lead to stabilizing and more homeostatic dopamine-like concentrations within the brain that could potentially lead to the alteration of cognitive deficits associated with neurological diseases linked to altered dopamine levels
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