Early life exposure to nicotine alters neurons, predisposes brain to addiction later

Medical Express May 22, 2019 Abuse/Addiction, California, Michigan, Research

A stained micrograph of a mouse purkinje neuron, a type of brain cell that releases the GABA neurotransmitter, and which is affected by nicotine exposure. Credit: Cell Image Library, NCMIR

Neonatal exposure to nicotine alters the reward circuity in the brains of newborn mice, increasing their preference for the drug in later adulthood, report researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine in a study published “in press” April 24, 2019 in Biological Psychiatry.

A UC San Diego School of Medicine team of scientists, headed by senior author Davide Dulcis, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry, with colleagues at Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System and Michigan State University, found that exposure to nicotine in the first few weeks of life (through maternal lactation) induced a variety of long-term neurological changes in young mice.

Specifically, it caused a form of neuroplasticity that resulted in increased…

Continue reading at MedicalExpress.com

Tags

About Medical Express

Medical Xpress is a web-based medical and health news service that is part of the renowned Science X network. Based on the years of experience as a Phys.org medical research channel, started in April 2011, Medical Xpress became a separate website. Branching out with Phys.org's monthly 2.5 million readership, Medical Xpress features the most comprehensive coverage in medical research and health news in the fields of neuroscience, cardiology, cancer, HIV/AIDS, psychology, psychiatry, dentistry, genetics, diseases and conditions, medications and more.
Designed by indo.media