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Roles of dopamine signaling in nicotine addiction

Molecular Psychiatry volume 8, pages 255–256 (2003)Cite this article

More than 3 million deaths a year are attributable to smoking worldwide, and the use of tobacco is on the rise in developing countries. Consequently, tobacco use is one of the few causes of mortality that is increasing, with deaths projected to reach 10 million annually in 30–40 years.1 In developed countries, smoking is presently estimated to cause 20% of all deaths, making it the largest single cause of preventable death. In the United States alone, smoking-related illness causes more than 430 000 deaths and $150 billion in medical costs and lost productivity annually.2

Nicotine is the primary addictive component of tobacco.3,4,5,6,7 It motivates smoking by about 1.1 billion people, representing approximately one-third of the global population aged 15 and over.8 The addictive power of tobacco is exemplified by the difficulty in quitting. Most attempts to quit smoking fail, and success is usually achieved only after repeated attempts. In the United States, nearly three-fourth of adult smokers want to stop. About one-third of these smokers try to quit each year, but only a few percent succeed.9 Since it is such a serious health problem, nicotine addiction arising from tobacco use has been the focus of much research. For nicotine and other psychostimulant drugs of abuse, the accumulation of evidence supports the hypothesis that mesocorticolimbic dopamine (DA) systems mediate the reinforcement for continued drug use despite the harmful consequences.3,4,5,6,10,11

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  1. Division of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, 77030, TX, USA

    J A Dani

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Dani, J. Roles of dopamine signaling in nicotine addiction. Mol Psychiatry 8, 255–256 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4001284

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