A group of neuro-pharmacologists from the University of Florida gave a scientific explanation to the morning ritual (which is also repeated during the day): specific neurotransmitters involved, here’s how
A group of neuro-pharmacologists from the University of Florida has given a scientific explanation to the morning ritual of millions of smokers around the world who start their day with a cigarette after drinking coffee and that, in the course of the day, they often follow the classic cup with a fumatina, a malpractice that once transformed bars into Soho smokehouses.
Night abstinence
Lead authors Roger Papke and Charles Stoke had the suspicion that at the basis of this behavior there was not only a psychological association, but a precise neuro-chemical cause and, in fact, in the September issue of the journal Neuropharmacology have published a study sponsored by National Institutes of Health Use (NIH) where they found that two compounds of coffee they act directly on some
brain nicotine receptors that in smokers they become hypersensitized after a night of abstinence, since obviously one cannot smoke during sleep. Moreover, even if the most marked phenomenon upon awakening, this combination always presents itself, because these components of coffee still act on nicotine acetylcholine receptors. Not all coffees, however, do it the same way: green coffee beans from Congofor example, three times stronger (from this point of view) than that of dark roasted coffee, that is, that of the classic Italian espresso.
A nicotine enhancer
For many smokers the first cigarette of the day is the best because it breaks the nighttime abstinence, but because it is even more satisfying after a cup of coffee? To enhance the first cigarette
not caffeine
, but another aromatic compound of coffee known as n-MP, an acronym for n-methylpyridine that acts on the α4β2 nicotinic acetyl-cholinergic receptors of the brain, which, besides being implicated in addiction, are also connected to attention, mental health, movement control. American researchers were able to find out because, working in a neuropharmacology department, they used the so-called technique voltage clump which analyzes the electrical activity of individual brain cells in response to various types of stimuli. The study was conducted both in situations of smoking abstinence and normal consumption and it was seen that the activity of nicotinic receptors underwent a so-called PAM effect (positive allosteric modulation), which was positively modulated, resolving the morning abstinence situation more quickly and with greater entity and in general enhanced the activity of nicotine by decreasing the desensitization of nicotinic receptors, that is, by enhancing them and making the cigarette more appreciated.
Other substances
With green coffee beans the WFP-dependent responses were three times greater than those of dark coffee which partially loses another component of the coffee in the roasting process: choline. This vitamin-like food compound is important for brain function especially during development and, as American researchers have now discovered, also activates the α7 nicotinic receptor. therefore likely that even the cholinewhich is also implicated in mental health, play an important role in withdrawal from smoking improved by coffee. The results of this study, the authors conclude, provide a new neuropharmacological basis on which behavioral scientists will be able to find new solutions to smoking withdrawal.
September 16, 2022 (change September 16, 2022 | 14:49)
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