Nicotine Research Paper

Nicotine is an alkaloid present in plants of the Family Solanaceae. Most commonly found in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), nicotine serves as a plant secondary chemical to protect plants against insects and other herbivores. Nicotine is an addictive stimulant in mammals, and is commonly used in cigarettes, cigars, pipes, and chewing tobacco. Nicotine can be administered to the body in many ways: orally through smoking tobacco, inhaling vaporized nicotine, or ingesting nicotine substances such as gum or lozenges; nasally via snuff or nasal spray; and transdermal modes such as patches or topical gels. Nicotine quickly crosses the blood brain barrier, typically in under 20 seconds, and has a half-life of around 2 hours. Nicotine acts on nicotinic
Additional chemicals in cigarettes can lead to vessel restriction and cell death, causing cognitive deficiencies. In most studies, the benefits of nicotine are dose dependent and are most beneficial when administered in small to moderate doses of 0.2 - 0.9mg. Cigarettes and cigars typically contain 1 - 1.7mg of nicotine, which is enough to saturate and desensitize nAChRs. Some benefits of nicotine, such as increased learning performance and working memory enhancement, are state dependent. In studies using the Morris Water Maze and Radial Arm Maze, mice were given an initial acute dose of nicotine while learning the maze. When forced to navigate the maze again, mice given nicotine initially and again during the second test performed better than mice that were either given no nicotine, or only the initial dose. The state dependent benefits are not as pronounced in
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