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Nicotine could ward off memory loss: study

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Published : Jan. 10, 2012 - 11:25

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Older adults who are starting to have problems with memory may benefit from small amounts of nicotine therapy, according to a US study published on Monday.

The research in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, included 74 non-smokers with an average age of 76. Half were given a daily nicotine patch for six months, the other half wore a placebo patch.

Those on nicotine therapy showed better results on cognitive tests for attention, memory, as well as how fast and consistently they could process information.

After six months on the patch, the nicotine group "regained 46 percent of normal performance for age on long-term memory, whereas the placebo group worsened by 26 percent over the same time period," said the study.

However, the study authors cautioned that older adults should not begin to smoke cigarettes to help their brain function, and said more research is needed to see if the positive effects endure over a long period of time.

Also, nicotine is not likely to help people whose memory already works well, said study author Paul Newhouse, director of the Center for Cognitive Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

"If you're already functioning fine, but slip down the hill, nicotine will push you back up toward the top. A little bit of the drug makes poor performers better," he said.

"Too much, and it makes them worse again, so there's a range. The key issue is to find the sweet spot where it helps."

The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging, and received no money from pharmaceutical companies, Newhouse said. Nicotrol 15 mg patches were donated for the study by Pfizer.

The link between nicotine and memory was first shown in the 1980s. Nicotine stimulates receptors in the brain that are important for thinking and memory.

People with Alzheimer's disease tend to lose some of those receptors.

Jeremy Koppel, a geriatric psychiatrist at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York, who was not involved in the study, said more research is needed to gauge the true nature of nicotine's potential benefit.

"While this small study did find that patients treated with transdermal nicotine performed better on tests of attention, and some tests of memory, there was no evidence of global improvement in the group treated with nicotine," Koppel said.

"Further, this study does not provide evidence that nicotine can reverse or slow the progression from MCI (mild cognitive impairment) to Alzheimer's disease."

Newhouse said he hopes to next examine how nicotine therapy might change the curve of cognitive decline over time.

"I don't think it's going to become a treatment for Alzheimer's disease by itself. That would be like trying to rebuild a house after a fire when the fire's still going," he said.

"You need to prevent the fire. The holy grail would be changing the deterioration curve."

People who wore the patch reported some nausea, dizziness, and mild weight loss, but did not report any withdrawal symptoms once they stopped wearing it. (AFP)

 

<관련 한글 기사>

니코틴 패치, 기억력 저하 억제

금연보조제로 쓰이는 니코틴 패치가 노인들의 기억력 저하를 억제하는 데 도움이 된다는 연구결과가 나왔다.

미국 밴더빌트 대학 의과대학 인지의학센터소장 폴 뉴하우스(Paul Newhouse) 박 사는 심하면 나중에 노인성 치매(알츠하이머병)로 이어질 수 있는 경도인지장애가 있는 담배를 피우지 않는 노인 74명을 대상으로 실시한 실험 결과 이 같은 사실이 밝혀졌다고 말한 것으로 헬스데이 뉴스가 9일(현지시간) 보도했다.

경도인지장애란 건망증보다는 좀 더 심한 경우로 같은 이야기를 여러번 되풀이 하거나 들은 얘기를 기억 못 하거나 계산을 하면서 자주 실수를 저지르는 등의 경우 를 말한다.

그의 연구팀은 이들을 두 그룹으로 나누어 34명은 6개월 동안 니코틴 패치(하루 15mg)를 붙이게 하고 33명에게는 가짜 니코틴 패치를 사용하게 하면서 처음과 3개월 , 6개월 후 각각 기억력을 포함한 인지기능 테스트를 실시했다.

그 결과 니코틴 패치 그룹은 장기적으로 떨어진 기억력의 46%를 회복했고  대조 군은 기억력 저하가 26% 더욱 악화된 것으로 나타났다.

니코틴 패치 그룹은 자신이 생각하기에도 기억력이 좋아진 것을 느낀다고  말했 다.

유일한 부작용은 체중감소였다. 니코틴 패치를 끊었을 때 금단증상은 나타나지 않았다.

니코틴이 기억력 개선에 도움이 되는 것은 뇌의 신경전달물질에 영향을 미쳐 주 의력을 개선시키기 때문으로 생각된다고 뉴하우스 박사는 밝혔다. 기억력이  작동하 려면 주의력이 필요하다고 그는 지적했다.

이 연구결과는 '신경학(Neurology)' 최신호(1월12일자)에 실렸다.