PSY 3061 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Vaccine Efficacy, Nucleus Accumbens, Smoking Cessation
Document Summary
Vaccination against nicotine: nicotine-specific antibodies attach to nicotine, too large to pass through blood brain barrier, much smaller amounts of nicotine reach the brain, nicotine + carrier protein + adjuvant (produce more antibodies and target substance) Long-lasting: safe, can be used in combination with current treatments. Va(cid:272)(cid:272)i(cid:374)atio(cid:374) alters (cid:374)i(cid:272)oti(cid:374)e"s effe(cid:272)ts: vaccination attenuates nicotine-evoked dopamine released in nucleus accumbens, dose-dependent effect: how much nicotine in system and how much antibody concentration. Immunizing is protective against the addictive effects of nicotine you have to catch nicotine: probably will still have withdrawal effects, people can stop taking the treatment, vaccination reduces nicotine self-administration in rats. Clinical trial: nicotine vaccine improves quit rates in smokers with high antibody levels, vaccine efficacy depends on antibody count, low antibody count = no effect, high antibody count = greater effect. In larger clinical trial, nicvax did not have a significant overall effect on smoking cessation. Gaba agonist decrease dopamine release lower drug-seeking behavior.
