Resumo

PEREZ CRUZ, Nuvia; PEREZ CRUZ, Hayvin  e  FERNANDEZ MANCHON, Eduardo J.. Nicotine and addiction. Rev haban cienc méd [online]. 2007, vol.6, n.1. ISSN 1729-519X.

Smoking must be considered as a drug dependence.Nicotine is its main psicoactive ingredient and it ows its addictive propieties to the increase of dopamine liberation in the reward circuits, due to its agonist action on the nicotinic cholinergic receptors. Non direct stimulation over other neurotransmission systems, such as the noradrenergic and cannabinoid, has been involved in its reinforcing propieties. The main of this paper is to express the molecular approach of smoking , which uncovers the susceptible targets to be modified by pharmacological interventions. The current strategies include the substitutive therapy with nicotine, the use of antidepressants and the development of vaccines. The treatment of the smoking habit involves a series of  regulations and legislations ; must of all, it involves a change of behavior, which in conjunction with the pharmacological support, it is an efficacious way of reducing the morbidity and mortality derived from tobacco at a short and a long term.

Palavras-chave : Nicotine; Addiction; Drug Dependence; Nicotine Receptor; Dopamine; Reward circuits.