Quoting: Anonymous Coward 32424032
Granular insular cortex inactivation as a novel therapeutic strategy for nicotine addiction
The inactivation of the granular insula decreased nicotine self-administration (SA) under both fixed and progressive ratios without affecting the SA of food under the same schedules of reinforcement.
[link to www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Nicotine Receptors Found For The First Time In The Mouth Raise New Hopes For Anti-smoking Therapies
A research team in Portugal and the US has found for the first time nicotine receptors in the taste buds. In fact, although most of the toxicity of smoking is linked to other components, it is nicotine that leads to smoking addiction and until now it was believed that this substance had to migrate into the brain to bind its specific receptors and provoke its effects.
This novel pathway is also shown to activate a brain area that when damaged can lead to instant loss of smoking addiction suggesting that mouth nicotine receptors might play a key role in the whole dependence process.
In fact, it has been seen that individuals with an extreme capacity to taste bitterness are more resistant to smoke addiction, while lesions to the insula – a brain area where the gustatory cortex (brain area for the sense of taste) is localised – can radically affect smoking addiction.
If the mouth nicotine receptors are confirmed to be linked to these insula effects, blocking them can turn out to be "the" weapon against smoking.
[link to www.science20.com