Nicotine is a highly addictive drug that produces short term sensations causing an individual to become dependent on the substance long term. In order to ingest nicotine, breathing is a regulatory process that is necessary for this action. As a result, individuals formulate a habit in unconsciously taking deep breaths in order to regulate their nervous system as they inhale nicotine. Ultimately, this becomes a repetitive behavior that people who are addicted rely on for sensations of pleasure.
In the research paper, "Facing the challenge of mammalian neural microcircuits: taking a few breaths may help", the researchers outlined how important the nervous system is in regulating breathing. This is a crucial, unconscious behavior that is extremely complex and, yet, essential for life. Breathing is a motor behavior that sustains the amount of oxygen within the body and the brain. Without the correct oxygen levels, the brain can experience extremely negative effects that impair overall functioning of the organ, but, even more so, can be fatal. In this paper, it is explained how breathing is associated with other microcircuits within the brain. Dr. Jordan Skach presented on how breathing is regulated and described that this ability is for gas exchange. The ability to measure the behavior within the study was using a spirometer or a diaphragm EMG. These assays were utilized to identify phrenic nerve activity, specifically the hypoglossal nerve, laryngeal nerve, and vagus nerve. Skach and his colleagues were observing the rhythmogenesis within the breathing patterns. After doing so, the researchers were able to modify the rhythms or the timing and the pattern or the shape of the breathing curves. The way in which these rhythms are regulated are through the parasympathetic nervous system, focusing on the main function of achieving a rest state within the brain and body.
There are many actions that involve this unconscious behavior. For instance, when increasing speed from a walk to a run, an individual will require more oxygen to flow into their bloodstream for contracting their muscles. Other behaviors such as eating and sipping a drink are also motor funcitons that require the microcircuitry involved in regulating breathing. As such, it is interesting to investigate the correlation between breath control and behaviors such as smoking nicotine. With unconscious and repetitive behaviors such as breathing, electronic cigarettes and other vape like options propose an interesting correlation within neural circuitry. Quick fixes for the parasympathetic nervous system, such as nicotine, may produce sensations of pleasure and calmness.
According to the research paper, "E-cigarettes, Nicotine, and the Lung and the Brain: Multi-level Cascading Pathophysiology", nicotine changes how the body's cells function. Nicotine will alter the breathing rate of an individual by increasing the frequency. This is a result of nicotine targeting nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. When the ligand binds to the receptor, there is reinforcement of desired sensations of pleasure. Smoking nicotine becomes addictive as the brain continues to desire the release of dopamine in order to feel the sense of a reward. This is due to the drug targeting both the amygdala and the reward pathway. Therefore, this is a sense of emotional aspect tied to the action of smoking any type of nicotine. This is the main reason for the reinforcement of increasing nicotine usage within an addict's life. The feelings and memories that are stored in the amygdala further perpetuate the desire for an individual to smoke in the future. In general, the relationship between nicotine and dopamine levels are significant. When experiencing nicotine withdrawal, individual will feel depressed, experience a decrease in overall arousal, and have issues when sleeping. The neural circuits are altered when an individual becomes addicted to nicotine, and as a result, will depend on the increase of dopamine from smoking in order to function properly. This research paper also discussed other ways the nervous system, specifically the parasympathetic system, would be affected. Nicotine decreases the body's temperature and increases locomotion activity. The behavior itself is naturally addicting as it ultimately is a breathing control within the human body. Inhaling an e-cigarette is an unconscious action that individauls perform all the time - taking a deep breath. However, by putting a e-cigarette or another type of vape up to the mouth and consciously taking a deep breath in, the individual's nervous system regulates itself.
In regards to circuitry, the brain contains such a strong memory for repetitive behaviors. The more an individual engages in the same pathways that send the same signals, the more that the action taken will become a stronger synapse within the brain. The parasympathetic nervous system functions in controlling breathing. This ability is something that utilizes pathways within the brain that is interconnected with the neural circuitry of nicotine.
Works Cited
Feldman, Jack L, and Kaiwen Kam. "Facing the Challenge of Mammalian Neural Microcircuits: Taking a Few Breaths May Help." The Journal of Physiology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2015, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25556783/.
Herman, Melissa, and Robert Tarran. "E-Cigarettes, Nicotine, the Lung and the Brain: Multi-Level Cascading Pathophysiology." The Journal of Physiology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Nov. 2020, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7721976/.
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