Precipitated withdrawal from nicotine reduces reinforcing effects of a visual stimulus for rats.

Introduction: Research has identified at least two positive reinforcement-related effects of nicotine: (a) primary reinforcement and (b) enhancement of reinforcement from concurrently available stimuli. Prior examples of the reinforcement-enhancing effects with rats showed that repeated, intermittent nicotine exposure increased responding for non-nicotine reinforcers, and this effect remained robust over several weeks. However, the effects of continuous nicotine exposure on responding for a non-nicotine reinforcer are unknown, as are the effects of abruptly withdrawing continuous nicotine on behavior maintained by the same reinforcer.

The motivation to obtain nicotine-conditioned reinforcers depends on nicotine dose.

Stimuli associated with nicotine (NIC) can acquire new meaning via Pavlovian conditioning. If a stimulus is associated with the primary reinforcing effects of NIC, the new conditional properties of the stimulus should make it a more valuable reinforcer (i.e.

Variability in initial nicotine sensitivity due to sex, history of other drug use, and parental smoking.

Initial sensitivity to nicotine's effects during early exposure to tobacco may relate to dependence vulnerability. We examined the association of initial nicotine sensitivity with individual difference factors of sex, other drug use history (i.e.

Gene and gene by sex associations with initial sensitivity to nicotine in nonsmokers.

Genetic variation may influence initial sensitivity to nicotine (i.e. during early tobacco exposure), perhaps helping to explain differential vulnerability to nicotine dependence.

Association of retrospective early smoking experiences with prospective sensitivity to nicotine via nasal spray in nonsmokers.

Greater sensitivity to early exposure to tobacco smoking may predict higher risk of becoming nicotine dependent. The most common measure of this sensitivity is the retrospective self-report Early Smoking Experiences (ESE) questionnaire. We examined the relationship between responses to the retrospective ESE and prospectively assessed sensitivity to nicotine via nasal spray in young adult nonsmokers (N = 58) with modest lifetime smoking experience (>0 but < or =10 lifetime uses).