Tobacco
smoking in human
s i
s one of the mo
st per
si
stent and wide
spread addiction
s and i
s driven by nicotine in tobacco
smoke. Over the la
st
several decade
s, under
standing of the molecular and cellular ba
si
s for nicotine addiction ha
s increa
sed tremendou
sly a
s a re
sult of pharmacological, molecular genetic, electrophy
siological and behavioral
studie
s of nicotine reinforcement. Studie
s of the biological ba
si
s for nicotine reinforcement ha
s helped in the de
sign of new treatment
s for
smoking ce
ssation
such a
s varenicline; however,
smoker
s report that they
smoke for many rea
son
s, including the ability to control
symptom
s of anxiety and depre
ssion or the de
sire to control appetite. Further, developmental expo
sure to tobacco
smoke increa
se
s the likelihood of adult
smoking. Here we review what i
s known about the molecular and circuit ba
si
s for a number of behavior
s related to tobacco
smoking. Leveraging the knowledge from
studie
s of different behavior
s mediated by nicotine receptor
s in multiple brain circuit
s could provide point
s of convergence that will inform future therapeutic development for
smoking ce
ssation.
This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 鈥楴IDA 40th Anniversary Issue鈥?