Steam trigger reward centers even without nicotine

ABSTRACT: A new study shows that some flagships of electronic cigarettes, such as vanilla and cherry, can trigger behavior of rewards in adolescent mice even without nicotine. The researchers found that these flavors alone could activate the brain dopamine system, which generated concerns about their potential to promote behavior similar to addiction.

Vanilla flavor steam, in particular, significantly reinforced such independent behaviors of nicotine. These findings highlight how vaping with flavor, even marketed as nicotine free, can still represent risks to adolescents.

Key facts:

Effects of flavor alone: vanilla and cherry flavors increase reward behaviors even without nicotine. Impact of the brain: flavors influenced the dopamine system and nicotinic receptors linked to addiction. Risk of your forest: vanos without flavor nicotine can still foster addiction patterns in adolescents.

Source: Marshall University

A new study led by researchers at the Marshall Joan C. Edwards University Faculty reveals that flavors commonly used in electronic cigarettes can increase the probability of vaping behavior in adolescents, even in the absence of nicotine.

Published earlier this month in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, the preclinical study found that certain popular flavorings, including vanilla and cherry, can promote behaviors related to reinforcement similar to those associated with nicotine exposure, particularly in adolescents.

The researchers tested the effects of flavor steam, including combinations with and without nicotine, in male and female teenage mice. The study used the E-VAPE® Self-Administration Test (EVSA), a new behavior model that allows mice voluntarily inhalely inhabble aerosols with flavor.

Mice exposed to vaniline or benzaldehyde demonstrated significantly more active responses compared to controls, despite the absence of nicotine.

Four combinations of nicotine showed an increase in reinforcement related behaviors: nicotine with mentol, cherry or vanilla, as well as vanilla flavor alone. Even in the absence of nicotine, vanilla flavor steam was only enough to trigger an indicative behavior of rewards search, while the taste of cherry was not only.

“These findings are significant because they demonstrate that some flavors of electronic nicotine supply systems (ends) can modulate the brain dopamine system, specifically in the Accumbens nucleus, a key rewards center, even without present nicotine,” said principal researcher Brandon J. Henderson, Ph.D., associate professor of biomnetic sciences at the Edwards Joan C ..

“This raises important questions about the potential for behaviors similar to addiction in adolescents that use vape products with a marketed flavor as nicotine free.”

The investigation further explored how these taste chemicals interact at the molecular level, which shows that green apple and vanilla compounds can affect the function of nicotinic acetylcholine receiver (Nachr), proteins that are known to play a central role in nicotine addiction.

These findings add to a growing body of research that shows that flavorings seem to actively alter the brain response to nicotine so that dependence could increase, especially among young people, Henderson said.

In addition to Henderson, study co -authors include Medicine students at Marshall Dami Adeshina, Gabrielle Hammers, Sean Hill, Sydney McSweeney, Sabrina Swenson and Sarah Maddox.

Co -authors also include Marshall University Ph.D. Nathan Olszewski and Samuel Tetteh-Quarshie students.

Financing: The study was possible with the financing support of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA050717).

On this neuroscience research news

Author: Sheanna Spence
Source: Marshall University
Contact: Sheanna Spence – Marshall University
Image: The image is accredited to Neuroscience News

Original research: open access.
“Impact of the chemical flavors on the behavior related to reinforcement in a adolescent mouse model of Self -Administration” by Brandon J. Henderson et al. Experimental Pharmacology and Therapy Magazine

Abstract

Impact of chemical flavors on reinforcement -related behavior

Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (EMA) are unique to combustible cigarettes due to the availability of flavor options that make these devices more attractive.

Previous preclinical investigations have determined that the flavors of mentol and green apples can improve the reward and reinforcement of the nicotine by altering the transmission of dopamine (DA) through the modulation of the nicotinic receptor (nachr) in the brain areas that measured the rewards.

In this study, we investigate the impact of vanilla flavors (vaniline and ethylanandinillina) and cherry (vanillina, vaniline, ethyl acetate, ethyl maltol and maltol) on behavior related to reinforcement with and without nicotine.

C57BL/6J mice were used male and female teenagers in an E-Vape® Self-Administration trial (EVSA). It was shown that four combinations increase the behavior related to reinforcement: nicotine plus mentol, nicotine plus cherry, nicotine more vanilla and vanilla alone.

We observe that the extremes with cherry zero nicotine did not produce robust behavior related to reinforcement compared to control vapor.

We observe that the ends with vanilla flavor zero nicotine produced behavior related to reinforcement in male and female adolescent mice; The addition of nicotine did not produce a significant difference in the pokes or deliveries of the active nose, but it did have an active to inactive relationship.

In addition, we found that vanilla alone was able to modulate the tonic and phasic release of dopamine in the nucleus of the Accumbens nucleus (NAC).

We also observe the physical interactions of the flavors of green apple and vanilla in nicotinic subunits.

These data provide additional evidence that some chemical flavors promote vopeo -related behaviors without nicotine inclusion.