Department of Oral Surgery, Medical University of Lublin, 20-059 Lublin, Poland.
Independent Laboratory of Behavioral Studies, Medical University of Lublin, 20-059 Lublin, Poland.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jul 28;24(15):12094. doi: 10.3390/ijms241512094.
Tobacco smoking is one of the most serious health problems. Potentially lethal effects of nicotine for adults can occur with as little as 30 to 60 mg, although severe symptoms can arise with lower doses. Furthermore, the route of administration also influences the toxicity. Cytisine is one of the most popular medications in nicotinism treatment. Like nicotine, cytisine is a plant alkaloid, signaling through nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Our study evaluated the effects of cytisine in nicotine-induced embryotoxic effects using zebrafish larvae. We examined the teratogenicity of nicotine and cytisine alone or in combination. Nicotine increased mortality and delayed hatching of zebrafish larvae in a dose-dependent manner. Cytisine did not affect mortality in a wide range of concentrations, and hatching delay was observed only at the highest concentrations, above 2 mM. Administering compounds together partially reduced the adverse teratogenic effect induced by nicotine alone. The protective effect of cytisine against the nicotine effect, observed in zebrafish, will contribute to future studies or treatments related to nicotine addiction or prenatal nicotine exposure in humans.
吸烟是最严重的健康问题之一。成年人只需摄入 30 至 60 毫克尼古丁，就可能产生潜在的致命影响，尽管较低剂量也可能出现严重症状。此外，给药途径也会影响毒性。烟碱是尼古丁中毒治疗中最常用的药物之一。与尼古丁一样，烟碱是一种植物生物碱，通过烟碱型乙酰胆碱受体传递信号。我们的研究使用斑马鱼幼虫评估了烟碱诱导的胚胎毒性作用。我们检查了烟碱和烟碱碱单独或联合使用的致畸作用。尼古丁以剂量依赖性方式增加斑马鱼幼虫的死亡率并延迟孵化。烟碱碱在广泛的浓度范围内不影响死亡率，仅在最高浓度（高于 2 mM）下观察到孵化延迟。联合给予化合物部分减轻了尼古丁单独引起的不良致畸作用。在斑马鱼中观察到的烟碱碱对尼古丁作用的保护作用，将有助于未来与尼古丁成瘾或人类产前尼古丁暴露相关的研究或治疗。
