Nicotinic and Opioid Receptor Interactions in Nicotine Addiction

Abstract

Many addictive drugs, including nicotine, increase the expression of opioid receptors and endogenous opioid peptides. How nicotinic receptors mediate this change in opioid signaling and its functional significance in the etiology of nicotine addiction remain unknown. Opioid and nicotinic receptor biology in the context of behaviors associated with drug dependence is discussed. Indeed, findings on the interactions between these receptor systems and recent studies on human behavior lead to the interesting suggestion that variants in the opioid receptor structure might predict the success of smoking cessation treatment.