Nicotine activates a gene that is responsible for cocaine addiction
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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For the first time the idea that smoking can in the future push a person to take more serious drugs, was expressed as early as in 1975. Then this hypothesis was considered interesting, but controversial. Only this year, the author of the idea, Denise Kendel (Columbia University, USA), was able to confirm it experimentally.
Previously, the results of studies have shown that the activity of some genes can be at the heart of drug addiction. These data stimulated a new study that established the effect of nicotine on protein-nucleic structures in the cell. The experiment consisted in administering to the mice a dose of nicotine for 7 days, after which they were transferred to cocaine. The researchers then assessed the degree of addiction to cocaine.
The results of the study showed that animals that received pre-nicotine 98% more actively returned to the place of distribution of cocaine and spent 78% more time in the place where they received the drug. The reverse effect was not observed by scientists, thus, cocaine does not stimulate dependence on nicotine.
This phenomenon was based on epigenetic mechanisms, namely, due to the action of nicotine, the production of the transcription factor FosB occurs, which is a marker of various dependencies. The mechanism of action of nicotine on this factor is the effect on histones and protein-packers of DNA.
The brain in adolescence is more affected by the environment than the brain in adults, so neurons at this age can easily remember the effect of nicotine on epigenetic mechanisms. Epigenetic studies were confirmed by statistical data collected in 1160 US educational institutions - smoking in adolescence increases the risk of developing cocaine dependence in the future.
Scientists are preparing for a new study that would show the link between smoking and the development of alcoholism and other drug addictions.
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