Cigarette withdrawal symptoms, not just dopamine...Discovery of a new mechanism

[Anchor]
To succeed in quitting smoking, you need to overcome withdrawal symptoms, to be precise, nicotine withdrawal symptoms.

Until now, the brain neurotransmitter "dopamine" has been considered the cause of withdrawal symptoms, and smoking cessation patches or supplements using it have been used.

Researchers in Korea have discovered another brain area and neural mechanism that affects withdrawal symptoms, and have also discovered the possibility of new treatments.

This is reporter Park Na-yeon.

[Reporter]
Unlike the left mouse, which normally moves actively, the right mouse does not move as if it were frozen.

It's a mouse addicted to nicotine drugs, showing withdrawal symptoms.

When you quit smoking, you will experience physical withdrawal symptoms such as hand tremors and decreased activity, and you will go back to smoking.

To succeed in quitting smoking, it is most important to determine the cause of withdrawal symptoms, and until now, the brain neurotransmitter "dopamine" is known to be the mechanism.

However, domestic researchers have discovered new brain areas and neural mechanisms that affect withdrawal symptoms.

The researchers first looked at the striatum region of the brain related to withdrawal symptoms similar to motor disorders.

In fact, neurotransmitters secreted by choline intermediate neurons in the striatum region were the mediators that caused withdrawal symptoms.

When animal experiments selectively inhibited choline intermediate neurons and reduced neuronal activity, withdrawal symptoms such as tremors were noticeably reduced.

In the process, the researchers also confirmed the possibility that the muscarinic inhibitor 'procycline', which is currently used as a treatment for Parkinson's disease, will be used as a treatment for nicotine withdrawal.When

mice were given a low dose of procyclidine before nicotine withdrawal was induced, one of the withdrawal symptoms, hand tremors decreased by about half.

[Kim Baek-sun / Post-doctoral researcher at KIST Brain Disease Research Group: The muscarinic receptor, which is the target of these neurons, was administered only once with an inhibitor, to relieve the withdrawal symptoms of tobacco by 50%.]

Procycline is a drug already approved by the FDA and has been proven to be safe.

This is likely to significantly shorten the duration of the clinical trial, but there are still areas to be supplemented.

[Lim Hye-in / Lead researcher of KIST Brain Disease Research Group: The drug called procycline used in our study is currently being used as a treatment for Parkinson's, but it has revealed side effects. We need to develop a new drug that can improve it.]

Based on this achievement, the researchers plan to take the lead in increasing access to smoking cessation treatment and reducing health problems caused by smoking.

This study is expected to overcome cigarette withdrawal in daily life as well as open a new path to smoking cessation treatment.

I'm Park Nayeon of YTN Science.


Image recording: Hwang Yu-min