Human body nicotine, effects

Upon landing in the New World, members of Columbus s crew described natives on the island of present-day Cuba who inserted burning roles of leaves (called tobaccos) into their nostrils and drank the smoke. The crew quickly took up this practice and the custom was subsequently introduced into Europe upon their return. Nicotine was a runaway success in Europe for many reasons, not the least of which was the belief that it would increase libido. Nicotine was not the first drug taken for this reason and will not be the last. Inhalation proved to be an extremely efficient method for conveying nicotine into the human body in order to obtain its alleged aphrodisiac effect. 

Behavioral and emotional Nicotine has a number of behavioral and emotional effects. It increases locomotor activity, which is mediated by increased dopamine in the nucleus accumbens (Mirza 1996). Nicotine suppresses appetite and decreases weight gain in rats (Grunberg et al. 1986). Conversely, cessation of smoking causes increases in body weight. Nicotine increases sexual receptivity in female rats, but whether this occurs in humans has not been studied—or at least not formally (Fuxe et al. 1977). 

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