Inhibition of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activity with SL327 does not prevent acquisition, expression, and extinction of ethanol-seeking behavior in mice.

Although extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activity is essential for the acquisition of a variety of associative learning tasks, its involvement in the acquisition and extinction of ethanol (EtOH)-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) remains unknown. Therefore, in these experiments we examined the effects of the ERK-kinase (MEK)-inhibitor SL327 on acquisition and expression of EtOH-CPP as well as the dose- and time-dependent effects of SL327 on CPP extinction. The parametric findings of Experiment 1 showed that three 30-min (but not 15- or 5-min) non-reinforced trials were required to completely extinguish EtOH-CPP in male, DBA/2J mice.

Measuring nicotine intake among highly-dependent adolescent smokers: comparability of saliva and plasma cotinine concentrations.

Cotinine is the most common biomarker used to assess nicotine exposure and abstinence. It can be measured in various matrices including saliva, plasma, and urine. Previous research with adults has shown high correlations between saliva and plasma cotinine concentrations.

Adolescents in smoking cessation treatment: relationship between externalizing symptoms, smoking history and outcome.

Previous research has indicated a potential bi-directional link between youth substance use and externalizing psychiatric comorbidities. We hypothesized that the degree of externalizing symptoms predicts the likelihood of successful smoking cessation (prolonged abstinence) among adolescent smokers participating in a cessation trial. We also explored the association of externalizing symptoms with age at smoking initiation.

Adolescents with conduct disorder: early smoking and treatment requests.

This study explored the relationship of a diagnosis of conduct disorder (CD) with the developmental smoking trajectory among 117 adolescent volunteers. Logistic regression analyses revealed that adolescents with CD smoked their first whole cigarette earlier (p = 0.03) and sought cessation treatment earlier (p = .

Reasons for wanting to quit: ethnic differences among cessation-seeking adolescent smokers.

Objective: Enhancing adolescent cessation requires an understanding of approaches that will motivate youths to quit smoking.

Methods: We compared reasons for wanting to quit expressed by European Americans to those of African American youths. Adolescent cessation-seeking smokers completed telephone interviews regarding their smoking behavior and reasons for wanting to quit in an open-ended format.

Adolescent nicotine metabolism: ethnoracial differences among dependent smokers.

Variations in nicotine metabolism are thought to contribute to differences in cigarette consumption between African Americans and Caucasian adult smokers. To investigate the potential mechanism of previously documented lower smoking rates among African-American adolescent smokers seeking cessation treatment, we measured nicotine metabolite ratios as markers of the metabolic disposition of nicotine, which is generally considered to be under the influence of cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2A6. Plasma ratios of trans-3'-hydroxycotinine (3HC) to cotinine (COT) were examined in 92 cessation treatment-seeking adolescents (mean age 15.

Smoking rates and topography predict adolescent smoking cessation following treatment with nicotine replacement therapy.

Establishing measurement invariance of tobacco addiction among adolescents remains challenging. In adult smoking cessation trials, poor outcome is predicted by high cigarette consumption and large puff volume at baseline. We examined the predictive value of pretreatment smoking rates and topography variables for abstinence outcomes among 66 adolescents enrolled in a 3-month smoking cessation trial using nicotine replacement and cognitive behavioral therapy.