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SCIENTISTS EXAMINING WITHDRAWAL responses in millimeter-long roundworms have found that a previously dismissed genetic mechanism may contribute to nicotine dependence.
Caenorhabditis elegans roundworms get hooked on nicotine just like humans.
Researchers at the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute identified specific genes and microRNA that play an essential role in how the roundworms develop nicotine dependence and their withdrawal responses.
These clues may carry over to the mammalian realm. Scientists previously demonstrated that the worms exhibit behavioral responses to nicotine similar to what mammals experience, and that some of the genes involved in nicotine dependence in worms are conserved in mammals – meaning the worms are a good genetic and behavioral model for studying nicotine dependence.
The study took a fresh look at a previously dismissed biological mechanism. Most research in the field has focused on how proteins called nicotine acetylcholine receptors contribute to dependence.
Scientists in the lab of Shawn Xu focused on an earlier step in the genetic coding process and discovered that a series of genes were involved in a process that ultimately increased the production of the nicotine receptor proteins, with microRNAs -a class of small RNA molecules that help fine-tune gene expression – playing a pivotal role.
A researcher in Shaun Xu’s lab and one of the lead authors on the study, Jianke Gong said:
We’re seeing a clear link between nicotine, microRNA, the receptor proteins, and nicotine-dependent behavior.
This mechanism had been dismissed as unimportant to nicotine dependence. However, Xu pointed out, those conclusions were made decades ago, using less sophisticated techniques.
“People believed this question had been settled,” said Xu, a professor at the LSI and in the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology at the U-M Medical School.
But we have better tools now. We, as a field, need to take another look at this mechanism in nicotine addiction.
Xu hopes that this latest discovery in C. elegans will now lead other scientists to re-examine the role of these microRNAs in nicotine dependence in mammals, and ultimately lead to a better understanding of what causes the dependence.
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after over 35 years of smoking i tried a vape, used that for about 15 months and for the last 3 years i have been smoke free, i would recommend to anyone trying to quit to give vaping a go, it’s hands down the best product on the market to help you quit.
@David Peate: Me too. Vaping helped me quit. I am so grateful for that invention. However having failed to quit lots of times before, the other important factor is to have a strong desire to quit. Just trying to quit because someone else doesn’t like it or societal pressure won’t work.
Allan Carr’s book was a surprise as it showed how easy it is to stop smoking once the mind overcomes the prejudices of craving/addiction, in short, we smoke to kill the craving caused by the previous cigarette but non-smokers don’t have the craving so we really want to be non-smokers by smoking. Some get it while others don’t but I suppose because it was not developed by a academic, his approach is ignored.
@Gerald Kelleher: I read Allan Carr’s book and I’ve been off them nearly 3 years now. Best thing I ever did :)
Nicotine isnt a particularly hard sustance to give up given it leaves your system very quickly. What makes it difficult to give up is the belief thats it is, that nicotine is a powerful drug. Society, media, certain products set you up for this massive battle and have convinced you its difficult. But the truth is its not. You dont wake during the night with dt’s and yet the nicotine wore off during the night. Some people make breakfast, gets kids out the door before lighting up and with no ill effects. you BELIEVE there will be. I went to a life coach and he talked me through why i smoked and the awful things things that would happen if i stopped. Society and marketing made me believe it was hard. So my brain believed! I smoked for 24 yrs! It took 90 minutes and I havent smoked in 4 yrs.
@Maria Mc: well said ,i my self gave up smoking with no withdrawles ,just decided to stop people have been brainwashed by the constant negatives and how being told how hard it is, was off them 3 months but due to stressfull problems i went back on them and am smoking the same as before ,its a fear.one thing i wuld say to anyone who gives up dont overdo exercisng straight away take it easy at first
@Maria Mc: Thanks Maria, it often suits those selling nicotine replacement to stress the difficulties in stopping while others ,once they see the cunning trick of nicotine, appreciate how the mind can work against a person’s best interests. I encountered this elsewhere but in a different context.
The theorists have convinced the wider population that you can only approach astronomy using a complicated language of mathematics thereby people shy away from this topic for fear they will get lost in the voodoo and bluffing that currently takes the name of astronomy. It is,of course, a self-serving scam that pays for the lifestyles,pensions and reputations of theorists but denies the wider population the freedom to explore the astronomical arena using computer graphics and imaging.
Right that’s it-All you smokers out there -Time to quit-can’t wriggle your way out of this one-if the worms can do it so can you.
I smoked for about 20 years, am off them for the last 7. 5 minutes at a time was all I done for a few days, the time starts stacking up. The cravinga last for a few minutes, then your ok again. I had cut down to 30 a day and than to 5 or 6, a friend told me id always be waiting for my next one so I quit. Carried a packet and lighter in the car for 4 months, and chewed gum and hard sweets when I got a craving.
Its not easy but it is worth it, at one time I got through 3 to 4 packs a day, now I dont. It has to be the time for you, and u must want it.
Best of luck to anyone thinking of it, u can do it, and its so worth it.
hpynosis worked for me and its fantastic….none of the stress or withdrawal systoms.
The ONLY reason it is hard to quit smoking is because of the psychological addiction and not because of any physical addiction. The psychological addiction creates the physical one and all these “studies” contribute to and sustain the myth.
This study is utter nonsense!
Just go cold turkey. I stopped smoking 4.5 years ago.
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