Apoptotic and Autophagic modulation by nicotine

Abstract

Cigarette smoking is growing and nicotine is considered as the most adverse agent in the cigarette smoking. Nicotine is an alkaloid and forms 90% of alkaloids of cigarette. It is accountable for creating disorders and cancers such as lung cancer, heart disease and chronic lung disease. Nicotine can be considered as an autophagy and apoptosis modulator which can either directly or indirectly regulate apoptosis and autophagy. Apoptosis is the programmed cell death and oxidative stress in the most known inducer of apoptosis. However, physicochemical stresses, free radicals and removing of nutrients are other factors which induce apoptosis. Autophagy plays the role of recycling which mainly attacks damaged and aged cells and organelles. In this review, we investigate the effects of nicotine on these pathways.

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“…When applied topically to wounds, osmosis would be expected to draw water from the wound into the honey, helping to dry the infected tissue, and reduce bacterial growth [14]. Nicotine is an alkaloid and is present in the leaves of tobacco [15]. Nicotine is not a carcinogen, but a compound that have greatest influence on a smoker's cancer risk.…”