Millions of smokers struggle to quit the habit and then end up failing. The National Institute on Drug Abuse figures indicate that within a week, out of the 35 million smokers over 85% eventually relapse.
Nicotine, like any other addictive substance activates the central nervous system’s rewards circuits, floods them with pleasure-enhancing dopamine and smoking is the fastest way for it to permeate the brain. The release of dopamine induces memory formation by establishing a connection between the brain’s reward pathways and memory systems. Addiction is thus created due to this form of associative memory.
Jianrong Tang and John Dani of the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston conducted a little experiment to monitor the induction of synaptic potentiation in mice who they gave biologically relevant doses of Nicotine. This was due to a hunch that nicotine was hijacking the brain’s reward pathways and memory systems to trigger addiction.
The results indicated that the continued presence of nicotine are not necessary for synaptic enhancement to occur and that the potentiation effect was not due to an increase in the number of afferent axons that carry nerve impulses from nicotine receptors to the brain.
The results also indicate a direct link between nicotine use and memory formation. Meaning that the more one smoked, the stronger the dopamine signal and the stronger synaptic potentiation became. Thus, suggesting that chronic nicotine use leads to addiction, fuelled by memories. The authors said, “Environmental cues previously associated with drug use elicit internal sensation-based memories that motivate the desire for the drug, making long-term abstinence difficult.”
