University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Canada.
Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2011 Dec;100(2):228-36. doi: 10.1016/j.pbb.2011.08.018. Epub 2011 Aug 26.
Enhanced cortical cholinergic signaling associated with nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) stimulation has been linked with pro-cognitive actions in a variety of performance domains, including attentional tasks. Improvements in stimulus selection with the nAChR agonist nicotine have been reported but its effects on visual spatial selective attention are unclear. Employing a double-blind, placebo-controlled design, this study examined the acute actions of nicotine (6 mg) in 24 non-smokers performing a visual search task of spatial attention that was probed with behavioral performance measures and the N2pc component of the event-related potentials (ERPs), which served as a neural index of spatial attentional selection. Nicotine did not affect behavioral performance indices. In high symptomatic subjects (as indexed by greater increases in heart rate post-administration), nicotine was associated with an N2pc amplitude enhancement while in low symptomatic individuals it was associated with an N2pc difference amplitude decrease. Nicotine modulation of the ERP marker of spatial attentional selection corroborates in general the attentional effects of nAChR agonists and extends these properties to include altered selective mechanisms during visual spatial processing.
增强的皮质胆碱能信号与烟碱型乙酰胆碱受体 (nAChR) 刺激有关，与各种表现领域的促认知作用有关，包括注意力任务。已经报道了烟碱型乙酰胆碱受体激动剂尼古丁在刺激选择方面的改善，但它对视觉空间选择性注意的影响尚不清楚。本研究采用双盲、安慰剂对照设计，在 24 名不吸烟的个体中，研究了尼古丁 (6 毫克) 的急性作用，他们在进行视觉搜索任务时表现出空间注意力，该任务通过行为表现测量和事件相关电位 (ERP) 的 N2pc 成分进行探测，后者作为空间注意力选择的神经指标。尼古丁不影响行为表现指标。在高症状个体（以给药后心率增加较大为指标）中，尼古丁与 N2pc 振幅增强有关，而在低症状个体中，与 N2pc 差值振幅降低有关。尼古丁对空间注意选择的 ERP 标志物的调制一般与 nAChR 激动剂的注意力效应相符，并将这些特性扩展到包括在视觉空间处理过程中改变的选择性机制。
