Is there any significant effect of smoking on the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors?
Just reading an article for school about the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors of the nervous system, and it says that they're activated by nicotine. Is this in any way effected by the nicotine taken into the body by smoking cigarettes? Or does it not reach this system?
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yes, it definately affects these receptor types. this may be why it is so addictive due to the close resemblance to endogenous chemicals and receptor types and therefore can act as an agonist to nicotinic receptors. these receptors regulate many areas of the nervous system. this is why smoking (or nicotine ingested in any way) affects sleep, thirst, sex drive, attention, heart rate, etc in addition to reward areas of the brain. new classes of pharmaceuticals are being investigated that will exploit this very idea. also, nicotine is sometimes successful at diminishing symptoms in tourette's patients (through nicotine patch) and may have some role in parkinson's.
A video of the harmful effects of smoking. This video was created for my senior presentation. Enjoy! PS DON'T SMOKE! Special thanks to jipacek ...
