Neural pathway for nicotine withdrawal symptoms

Because unpleasant withdrawal symptoms fuel nicotine addiction’s high relapse rate, targeting their underlying mechanisms with treatments may promote continued abstinence from the drug. In a new JNeurosci paper, Alexis Monical and Daniel McGehee, from the University of Chicago, explored a neural pathway for nicotine withdrawal symptoms stemming from the interpeduncular nucleus (IPN) to the laterodorsal tegmentum (LDTg). 

The researchers previously found that high doses of nicotine interact with the IPN to cause unpleasant effects that reduce intake of the drug in mice. Other researchers have linked the IPN to nicotine withdrawal symptoms. This nucleus inhibits the LDTg, which is emerging as a brain region that supports reward processing.  

In their new paper, Monical and McGehee looked at neural activity in the LDTg as mice interacted with new objects and discovered that mice going through nicotine withdrawal had weaker LDTg responses to these objects. The researchers predicted that nicotine withdrawal may trigger the inhibitory projection from the IPN to the LDTg. In support of this prediction, artificially inhibiting the pathway—thus increasing LDTg activity—reduced withdrawal symptoms and increased interactions with new objects.  

The authors are excited to develop strategies for targeting this pathway to alleviate unpleasant symptoms and potentially promote continued abstinence from nicotine.   

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About JNeurosci 

JNeurosci was launched in 1981 as a means to communicate the findings of the highest quality neuroscience research to the growing field. Today, the journal remains committed to publishing cutting-edge neuroscience that will have an immediate and lasting scientific impact, while responding to authors' changing publishing needs, representing breadth of the field and diversity in authorship. 

About The Society for Neuroscience 

The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 35,000 members in more than 95 countries.