Overview

Abstract

Nicotine research has proliferated alarmingly in recent years and the profusion of data makes it hard to maintain a critical eye on developments outside one’s immediate speciality. I intend to take aim at a number of widely-held views which I believe (perhaps mistakenly) deserve to be questioned. I will touch upon the following issues: Is nicotinic cholinergic neurotransmission an established feature of the mammalian nervous system ? Does blockade of CNS nicotinic receptors result in cognitive (or other) deficits ? Do neurons that express nicotinic receptors precisely control where these are located ? Do nicotinic receptors containing α4 and ß2 subunits represent a particularly prevalent population in brain and do they mediate pharmacological actions of smoking doses of nicotine to any important extent ? In studies where animals are treated repeatedly with nicotine, are the drug effects observed due to the acute effects of chronic treatment or the chronic effects of acute treatment ? Is the upregulation of ³H-nicotine binding sites in brain that is seen upon chronic in vivo nicotine treatment triggered by changes in the functional status of these receptors ? Are the central actions of nicotine important in tobacco smoking ? Many habitual smokers appear dependent on nicotine, so why then does nicotine replacement therapy help only a small minority to remain abstinent in the long-term ? (answers to all the above to be provided by conference participants !).