Smoking, nicotine and visual plasticity: does what you know, tell you what you can see?
Nicotine exposure alters activity-dependent synaptic plasticity processes. Effects on learning and memory outcomes, and the synaptic changes that underlie them, are well-documented. Parallels in hippocampal and visual system pharmacology suggest that nicotine has the potential to alter activity-dependent structural organization in visual areas. Such alterations may contribute to deficits in visual performance reported in smoking exposed individuals.
Debski
Elizabeth A
EA
Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, 101 TH Morgan Building, Lexington, KY 40506-0225, United States. debski@uky.edu
D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000187:drug effects*; D009538:Nicotine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000187:drug effects*
D018722:Nicotinic Agonists; D009538:Nicotine