Nicotine cognitive enhancers

Revell, 1988). These studies were interpreted as showing that nicotine was a cognitive enhancer, boosting alertness through an increase in cholinergic activity (Parrott and Winder, 1989 Revell, 1988 Wesnes and Warburton, 1983 Wesnes and Parrott, 1992). 

Cognitive effects Human nonsmokers Administration of nicotine to tobacco nonusers produces small cognitive enhancements. Studies in tobacco nonusers have primarily measured attention, information processing speed, and memory. Nicotine improves perceptual speed, choice reaction time, and digit recall (Stough et al. 1995 Le Houezec et al. 1994 Foulds et al. 1996). Improvements also occur in digit symbol substitution and continuous performance tests without reducing accuracy (Petrie and Deary 1989 Levin et al. 1998). 

Nicotine, the principal psychoactive alkaloid in tobacco, has cognitive-enhancing effects. It directly activates nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in brain areas critical for cognition, creating both acute and chronic effects. 

Warburton DM. (1992). Nicotine as a cognitive enhancer. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 16(2) 181-91. 

Drug discrimination is also an imporfanf sfandard technique used in assessments of the abuse liability of novel psychoactive compounds, with relevance to attempts to develop novel nicotinic agonists for use as cognitive enhancers. 

A link between smokers and a lower incidence of AD has been noted and this is thought to be associated with increased nicotine intake. Nicotine (27) is reported to have cognition-enhancing effects and these may be due to nicotinic receptor stimulation. It may also protect against AD by... 

Nicotinic Cholinergic Approaches to Cognitive Enhancement in the Dementias... 

Cholinesterase inhibitor (acetylcholinesterase inhibitor) also an allosteric nicotinic cholinergic modulator cognitive enhancer... 

RJR-2403 has been described as equal to or better than nicotine as a cognitive enhancer in behavioral assays (274). This compound ameliorated scopolamine-induced impairments in passive avoidance as well as working and reference memory impairments in a radial arm maze task caused by NBM lesions in rats... 

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