Tobacco & Psychomotor Stimulants 1

• Sympathomimetic

  Affecting sympathetic nervous system
• Sympathomimetic effects of nicotine


  • Increases in heart rate, blood pressure, respiration
  • Skin vasoconstriction: why smokers are often cold to touch, wrinkle/age faster and do not blush easily
• Parasympathomimetic


  Affecting parasympathetic nervous system
• Parasympathomimetic effects of nicotine

  • Increased smooth muscle activity - increased stomach and bowel activity (laxative property)
• Central effects of nicotine

  • Nausea: activation of vomiting center, especially in inexperienced users who don't know how to titer their nicotine intake (green about the gills)
  • Arousal: activation of midbrain arousal areas
  • Improvements in aspects of motor and cognitive performance: attention, short term episodic memory, fine motor skills
• Subjective effects of nicotine


  Stimulation and mood enhancement/pleasure
• Increases in DA release in the nAC

  Tied to reinforcing effect
• nAchRs are expressed in the mesolimbic pathway
• Smoking/vaping is addictive


  • Puff to brain activation occurs in matter of seconds - rapid blood absorption
  • Nicotine bolus: the sudden delivery of concentrated nicotine intensifies pleasure and enhances reinforcing effects, making nicotine from smoking/vaping more addicting than slower routes
• Tobacco/nicotine use disorder criteria (DSM-V)

  • 3 criteria with 15 subfeatures
• Nicotine dependence/withdrawal


  • Physical dependence: most symptoms develop after several days, peak after a week. Most gone after 1 month except cravings
  • Psychological dependence: prominent feature of nicotine withdrawal is strong craving to return to tobacco use
• Increased risk of cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease and stroke, lung cancer and other forms of cancer, and respiratory diseases such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema
• Effects on fetuses from smoking mothers

  • Increases the chance of miscarriage and stillbirth, risk of premature birth/low birth weight, risk of baby developing respiratory problems, risk of birth defects
• Harmful effects of smokeless tobacco

  • Gum disease, damage to tooth enamel, loss of teeth, oral cancer, cancer of jaw, pharynx, and neck
• When people quit smoking, health risks diminish rapidly
• Dependence can be very strong and is difficult to quit (25% have great difficulty, potentially due to genetics?)
• 70% of smokers want to quit, 50% will attempt to quit, only 6% are successful each year
• Approaches to smoking cessation

  • Behavioral treatment programs
  • Hypnosis
  • Acupuncture
  • Prescription drugs
  • Nicotine substitutes (patches, gums, etc.)
• Psychomotor stimulants


  Drugs that enhance wakefulness and alertness, reduce fatigue, and activate the motor system
• Monoamines


  Dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine (catecholamines), and serotonin (indolamine)
• Sympathomimetic


  Activate the sympathetic nervous system
• Sympathomimetic effects


  • Increased heart rate and blood pressure, bronchodilation, stimulate adrenal gland to release hormone
• Ephedrine


  Herb ephedra sinica or ma huang, highly chemically similar to epinephrine (adrenaline), sympathetic nervous system stimulant, used to treat asthma (bronchodilator and decongestant)
• Cathinone


  Psychostimulant from khat (catha edulis) plant, structurally similar to amphetamine, released by chewing fresh leaves/pulverizing into powder and mixing with tea
• Cocaine


  Euphoria producing stimulant drug with strong misuse potential, derived from coca leaves grown in South America, manufacturing process takes place in remote jungle labs