Study: Nicotine patch improves brain power
TRACY CONNOR
Monday, January 09, 2012
A nicotine patch boosted brain power in patients experiencing mild memory and attention problems — a finding that could hold promise for Alzheimer’s research.
The study that produced the discovery looked at men and women with mild cognitive impairment, a condition that does not interfere with daily living but often progresses to dementia.
Half the 74 subjects — all nonsmokers — wore a nicotine. patch for six months, while the others were given a placebo.
The group that got the nicotine did better on cognition tests, although they and their doctors may not have noticed much improvement.
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-01-09/news/30609552_1_nicotine-patch-mild-cognitive-impairment-study
Nicotine Could Play Role in Alzheimer's Disease Therapy, Neuroscientists Discover
ScienceDaily (Oct. 13, 2010)
— A team of neuroscientists has discovered important new information in the search for an effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease, the debilitating neurological disorder that afflicts more than 5.3 million Americans and is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States. Hey-Kyoung Lee, associate professor in the University of Maryland Department of Biology, and her research team have shown that they may be able to eliminate debilitating side effects caused by a promising Alzheimer's drug by stimulating the brain's nicotine receptors.
"By stimulating the Alpha7 receptor with nicotine, we were able to recover normal brain function," explains Lee. "We are very hopeful that this will be a way to overcome the deficits seen with the BACE-1 knockouts."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101013095331.htm
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