Nicotine's effects on attentional efficiency in alcoholics.
BACKGROUND
Historically, the concomitant use of nicotine among alcoholics has not been methodologically accounted for. Given the observed cognitive enhancing effects of acute nicotine on attentional processes, it is important that the potentially positive effects of nicotine be disentangled from the negative effects of chronic alcohol dependence. The current study was conducted to address this question and to test the hypothesis that alcoholics who are regular smokers are more sensitive to the effects of nicotine on cognition as compared to regular smoking community controls.


METHODS
A 2 [drug group; alcoholics (n = 28), community controls (n = 27)] X 2 nicotine dose level [low (7 mg dose) vs. high (14 or 21 mg dose)] double-blind design was used to assess the differential effects of nicotine dose on a battery of neurocognitive tests focusing on attentional efficiency.


RESULTS
As expected, the alcoholic group performed more poorly than did the control group. However, of greater interest to the current study was the finding that alcoholic participants differentially benefited from nicotine administration, as demonstrated in the differential dose effect.


CONCLUSIONS
The concomitant use of nicotine may serve to "mask" or "overcome" some of the negative effects of chronic alcohol dependence in newly recovering alcoholics. This potential effect has significant implications for treatment development and further understanding of the process of recovery of function in chronic alcoholics.
Nixon
Sara Jo
SJ
Department of Psychiatry, McKnight Brain Institute, Newell, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA. sjnixon@ufl.edu
Lawton-Craddock
Andrea
A
Tivis
Rick
R
Ceballos
Natalie
N
D000279:Administration, Cutaneous; D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects*; D015897:Comorbidity; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D000431:Ethanol / Q000633:toxicity; D005260:Female; D005731:Ganglionic Stimulants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000187:drug effects; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009538:Nicotine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000523:psychology
D005731:Ganglionic Stimulants; D000431:Ethanol; D009538:Nicotine