Hi, is this good news? Is this a new med in the making?
A steady stream of nicotine normalizes genetically-induced impairments in brain activity associated with schizophrenia, according to new research involving the University of Colorado Boulder. The finding sheds light on what causes the disease and why those who have it tend to smoke heavily.
Ultimately the authors of the study, released online today in the journal Nature Medicine, envision their work could lead to new non-addictive, nicotine-based treatments for some of the 51 million people worldwide who suffer from the disease.
âOur study provides compelling biological evidence that a specific genetic variant contributes to risk for schizophrenia, defines the mechanism responsible for the effect and validates that nicotine improves that deficit,â said Jerry Stitzel, a researcher at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics (IBG) and one of four CU Boulder researchers on the study.
Led by Uwe Maskos â a researcher at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France â the study found that when mice with schizophrenic characteristics were given nicotine daily, their sluggish brain activity increased within two days. Within one week it had normalized.
âBasically the nicotine is compensating for a genetically determined impairment,â says Stitzel. âNo one has ever shown that before.â
Nah I was thinking of a different article I read looking at the effects of smoking and sz. I suppose if they made a pill it wouldnât be as bad. Nicotine is crazy addictive though. The most addictive substance in existence currently, actuallyâŠwonder what the long term effects of being on it areâŠ
Eighty to 90 percent of people with schizophrenia smoke and most are very heavy smokers, a fact that has long led researchers to suspect they are self-medicating.
I read this years back and was wondering what could be self-medicating about it, aside from the caffeine kick. I guess now I know!!
I think that theyâll end up using nicotine as a way to investigate how schizophrenia actually affects the brain, then develop new medications based off of that information. Nicotine is too much of a harmful substance to be given to the masses disguised as a âtreatmentâ.
I have smoked cigarettes heavily for six years, and have since moved on to vaping with low mgâs of nicotine and much prefer it. I do not find that nicotine helps a noticeable amount, and Iâd definitely rather be without it.
Im no expert but i think nicotine alone (vaping) isnt very harmful, its all the other â â â â in ciggys that make them so toxic. I vape 6 mg steadily for the last 2 years and cant say im feeling worse than if i was completely off it. Gives me something to do when im feeling bored . I used to smoke a lot of dope mixed with tobacco and it helps me stay of that stuff.
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The Scottish Comorbidity Study Group has highlighted again the problem of greater use of drugs and alcohol, and especially tobacco, among patients with schizophrenia (McCreadie et al, 2002). An underrecognised comorbidity, however, especially in developing countries, is that of chewing betel nut (Areca catechu), along with the betel leaf (Piper betle) and lime.
In a preliminary study conducted in the North Colombo Teaching Hospital, Sri Lanka, we observed that a higher proportion of patients with schizophrenia chewed betel compared with control subjects. The frequency of chewing betel was also higher among the patients with schizophrenia. A recent study from Micronesia ( Sullivan et al, 2000) has shown that betel chewing may in fact have a beneficial effect on patients with schizophrenia in terms of reducing both positive and negative symptoms. They postulate that the muscarinic agonist action of the betel nut alkaloid, arecoline, may provide an explanation.
However, betel chewing is an important risk factor for oro-pharyngeal carcinoma, and contributes significantly to oral health-related morbidity and mortality ( Trivedy et al, 2002). Thus, the dual diagnosis of schizophrenia and betel chewing should not be missed, and services to address this problem should receive priority in many developing countries.
