Editor's Summary
7 July 2005
The two sides of nicotine
The bad news, nicotine addiction has caused the deaths of millions from smoking-related diseases. The good news, nicotine can enhance cognitive performance. In an attempt to disentangle the brain networks that mediate nicotine reward and relevant cognitive functions, Maskos et al. have developed an injectable lentiviral vector that delivers functional nicotinic acetylcholine receptors to defined regions of the mouse brain. The technique was used to generate mice that express nicotinic receptors exclusively in the midbrain ventral tegmental area, the VTA, which contains dopamine reward neurons and is associated with the response to drugs of abuse. The experiment showed that these receptors in the VTA are sufficient for all behavioural and physiological phenomena associated with nicotine dependence. And they are also involved in the higher brain or 'cognitive' functions in the mouse. Nicotine's 'good' and 'bad' sides are, it seems, intimately entangled and originate from a phylogenetically ancient part of the brain.
News and Views: Neuroscience: A home for the nicotine habit
Nicotine is extremely addictive, but it can also improve cognitive performance. Attempts to unravel the complex pathways underlying these effects pinpoint a single type of receptor in just one brain region.
Julie A. Kauer
doi:10.1038/436031a
Letter: Nicotine reinforcement and cognition restored by targeted expression of nicotinic receptors
U. Maskos, B. E. Molles, S. Pons, M. Besson, B. P. Guiard, J.-P. Guilloux, A. Evrard, P. Cazala, A. Cormier, M. Mameli-Engvall, N. Dufour, I. Cloëz-Tayarani, A.-P. Bemelmans, J. Mallet, A. M. Gardier, V. David, P. Faure, S. Granon and J.-P. Changeux
doi:10.1038/nature03694
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