Mehta Mona, Adem Abdu, Kahlon Maninder S, Sabbagh Marwan N
Banner Sun Health Research Institute, Sun City, AZ 85351, USA.
Front Biosci (Elite Ed). 2012 Jan 1;4(1):169-80. doi: 10.2741/367.
Epidemiological studies regarding Alzheimer's disease (AD) in smokers currently suggest inconsistent results. The clinicopathological findings also vary as to how AD pathology is affected by smoking behavior. Even though clinicopathological, functional, and epidemiological studies in humans do not present a consistent picture, much of the in vitro data implies that nicotine has neuroprotective effects when used in neurodegenerative disorder models. Current studies of the effects of nicotine and nicotinic agonists on cognitive function in both the non-demented and those with AD are not convincing. More data is needed to determine whether repetitive activation of nAChR with intermittent or acute exposure to nicotine, acute activation of nAChR, or long-lasting inactivation of nAChR secondary to chronic nicotine exposure will have a therapeutic effect and/or explain the beneficial effects of those types of drugs. Other studies show multifaceted connections between nicotine, nicotinic agonists, smoking, and nAChRs implicated in AD etiology. Although many controversies still exist, ongoing studies are revealing how nicotinic receptor changes and functions may be significant to the neurochemical, pathological, and clinical changes that appear in AD.
目前，有关吸烟者患阿尔茨海默病（AD）的流行病学研究结果并不一致。关于吸烟行为如何影响AD病理，临床病理研究结果也各不相同。尽管针对人类的临床病理、功能和流行病学研究结果并不统一，但许多体外实验数据表明，在神经退行性疾病模型中使用尼古丁具有神经保护作用。目前关于尼古丁和烟碱类激动剂对非痴呆者和AD患者认知功能影响的研究结果并不令人信服。需要更多数据来确定，间歇性或急性接触尼古丁导致的nAChR重复激活、nAChR急性激活，或慢性尼古丁暴露导致的nAChR长期失活是否具有治疗作用，以及/或者能否解释这类药物的有益效果。其他研究表明，尼古丁、烟碱类激动剂、吸烟与AD病因中涉及的nAChRs之间存在多方面联系。尽管仍然存在许多争议，但正在进行的研究正在揭示烟碱受体的变化和功能如何可能对AD中出现的神经化学、病理和临床变化具有重要意义。
