page_title: Effects of nicotine on human brain development
section_title: Effects on the brain
hierarchical_section_title: Effects of nicotine on human brain development / Young adults and youth / Effects on the brain
caption_attribution_description: Almost 90 percent of adult daily smokers started smoking by the age of 18 and about 2,000 youth under 18 smoke their first cigarette every day in the United States. In fact, use of tobacco products, no matter what type, is almost always started and established during adolescence when the developing brain is most vulnerable to nicotine addiction.
context_page_description: Exposure to nicotine, from conventional or electronic cigarettes during adolescence can impair the developing human brain. E-cigarette use is recognized as a substantial threat to adolescent behavioral health. The use of tobacco products, no matter what type, is almost always started and established during adolescence when the developing brain is most vulnerable to nicotine addiction. Young people's brains build synapses faster than adult brains. Because addiction is a form of learning, adolescents can get addicted more easily than adults. The nicotine in e-cigarettes can also prime the adolescent brain for addiction to other drugs such as cocaine. Exposure to nicotine and its great risk of developing an addiction, are areas of significant concern.
  Nicotine is a parasympathomimetic stimulant that binds to and activates nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the brain, which subsequently causes the release of dopamine and other neurotransmitters, such as norepinephrine, acetylcholine, serotonin, gamma-aminobutyric acid, glutamate, endorphins. Nicotine interferes with the blood-brain barrier function, and as a consequence raises the risk of brain edema and neuroinflammation.
context_section_description: Both preadolescence and adolescence are developmental periods associated with increased vulnerability to nicotine addiction, and exposure to nicotine during these periods may lead to long-lasting changes in behavioral and neuronal plasticity. Nicotine has more significant and durable damaging effects on adolescent brains compared to adult brains, the former suffering more harmful effects. Preclinical animal studies have shown that in rodent models, nicotinic acetylcholine receptor signaling is still actively changing during adolescence, with higher expression and functional activity of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the forebrain of adolescent rodents compared to their adult counterparts. Furthermore, in rodent models, nicotine actually enhances neuronal activity in several reward-related regions and does so more robustly in adolescents than in adults. This increased sensitivity to nicotine in the reward pathways of adolescent rats is associated with enhanced behavioral responses, such as strengthening the stimulus response reward for administration of nicotine. In conditioned place-preference tests—where reward is measured by the amount of time animals spend in an environment where they receive nicotine compared to an environment where nicotine is not administered—adolescent rodents have shown an increased sensitivity to the rewarding effects of nicotine at very low doses (0.03 mg/kg) and exhibited a unique vulnerability to oral self-administration during the early-adolescent period. Adolescent rodents also have shown higher levels of nicotine self-administration than adults, decreased sensitivity to the aversive effects of nicotine, and less prominent withdrawal symptoms following chronic nicotine exposure. This characteristic in rodent models of increased positive and decreased negative short-term effects of nicotine during adolescence (versus adulthood) highlights the possibility that human adolescents might be particularly vulnerable to developing dependency to and continuing to use e-cigarettes.
  The teen years are critical for brain development, which continues into young adulthood. Young people who use nicotine products in any form, including e-cigarettes, are uniquely at risk for long-lasting effects. Because nicotine affects the development of the brain's reward system, continued e-cigarette use can not only lead to nicotine addiction, but it also can make other drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine more pleasurable to a teen's developing brain. Concerns exist in respect to adolescence vaping due to studies indicating nicotine may potentially have harmful effects on the brain. Nicotine exposure during adolescence adversely affects cognitive development. Children are more sensitive to nicotine than adults. The use of products containing nicotine in any form among youth, including in e-cigarettes, is unsafe. Animal research indicates strong evidence that the limbic system, which modulates drug reward, cognition, and emotion, is growing during adolescence and is particularly vulnerable to the long lasting effects of nicotine. In youth, nicotine is associated with cognitive impairment as well as the chance of getting addicted for life. The adolescent's developing brain is especially sensitive to the harmful effects of nicotine. A short period of regular or occasional nicotine exposure in adolescence exerts long-term neurobehavioral damage. Risks of exposing the developing brain to nicotine include mood disorders and permanent lowering of impulse control. The rise in vaping is of great concern because the parts encompassing in greater cognitive activities including the prefrontal cortex of the brain continues to develop into the 20s. Nicotine exposure during brain development may hamper growth of neurons and brain circuits, effecting brain architecture, chemistry, and neurobehavioral activity.
  Nicotine changes the way synapses are formed, which can harm the parts of the brain that control attention and learning. Preclinical studies indicate that teens being exposed to nicotine interferes with the structural
caption: Effects of nicotine on the human brain.[5]
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