Table of Contents

I: Overview.- Current controversies in nicotine research.- Acute biological effects of nicotine and its metabolites.- Involvement of nicotine and its metabolites in the pathology of smoking-related diseases: Facts and hypotheses.- II. Structure and function of nicotinic receptors.- A cyclophilin-dependent mechanism for ?7 neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor maturation.- ?-Bungarotoxin receptor subtypes.- Neuronal nicotinic receptor structure and function.- Determinants regulating neuronal nicotinic receptor function.- Expression, function, and regulation of neuronal acetylcholine receptors containing the ?7 gene product.- III. Nicotinic receptor regulation and tolerance.- Biochemical measures of nicotinic receptor desensitization.- The role of desensitization in CNS nicotinic receptor function.- Presynaptic nicotinic autoreceptors and heteroreceptors in the CNS.- Regulation of neuronal nicotinic receptors in primary cultures.- Conditioned tolerance to nicotine in rats.- IV: Neuronal, trophic and endocrine effects of nicotine.- Developmental effects of nicotine.- Presynaptic nicotine-gated channels potentiate transmission at ACh and glutamate-mediated synapses.- Electrophysiology of neuronal nicotinic receptors in the CNS.- Factors controlling nicotinic acetylcholine receptor expression on rat sympathetic neurons.- Growth related role for the nicotinic ?-bungarotoxin receptor.- Mechanisms of nicotine stimulated cell proliferation in normal and neoplastic neuro-endocrine lung cells.- Activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis by nicotine: Neurochemical and neuroanatomical substrates.- Regulation of proenkephalin gene expression in bovine adrenal medullary chromaffin cells by nicotine.- Effects of nicotine on thromboxane and leukotriene synthesis in cellular systems.- V: Nicotine and smoking: Current controversies.- Smoking-induced alterations in brain electrical profiles: Normalization or enhancement?.- Nicotine and cognitive effects.- Evidence that nicotine is addictive.- Self-administered nicotine acts through the ventral tegmental area: Implications for drug reinforcement mechanisms.- Desensitisation of the stimulatory effects of nicotine on dopamine secretion in the mesolimbic system of the rat.- Nicotine as a discriminative stimulus: Individual variability to acute tolerance and the role of receptor desensitization.- Behavioral and biochemical analysis of the dependence properties of nicotine.- Nicotine boost per cigarette as the controlling factor of intake regulation by smokers.- There is more to smoking than the CNS effects of nicotine.- Pharmacological determinants of cigarette smoking.- The functional conception of nicotine use.- Nicotine is addictive: The issue of free choice.- Differentiating habits and addictions: The evidence that nicotine is not 'addictive'.- Differences in response to nicotine are determined by genetic factors.- VI: Nicotine and human diseases.- Relationship between smoking, nicotine and ulcerative colitis.- Transdermal nicotine in Tourette's syndrome.- Nicotine and neuropsychiatric disorders: Schizophrenia.- Nicotinic receptors and the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.- The epidemiology of cigarette smoking and Parkinson's disease.- Nicotine and animal models of Parkinson's disease.- Nicotine effects on memory performance.- Possible mechanisms underlying beneficial effects of nicotine on cognitive function.- Nicotinic modulation of cognitive functioning in humans.- Invited Contributions.- Distribution of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit immunoreactivities on the surface of chick ciliary ganglion neurons.- Autoradiographic distribution of nicotinic receptor sites labelled with [3H]cytisine in the human brain.- Epibatidine.- Measuring changes in mesolimbic dopamine and related substances in response to systemic nicotine using in vivo electrochemistry.- Effect of nicotine and cotinine on NNK metabolism in rats.- Concluding Remarks: The future of nicotine-containing products.- Author Index.