Clonidine pre-treatment fails to block acute smoking-induced EEG arousal/mood in cigarette smokers

Non-cholinergic modulation of antisaccade performance: a modafinil-nicotine comparison

“…In addition, an explanation in terms of arousal would not necessitate a common (noradrenergic) pathway of action. Noradrenergic challenge has not been shown to reverse nicotine-induced changes in arousal, implying pharmacological independence of the arousal changes induced by nicotine (Knott et al 2005).…”

“…Modafinil is an indirect noradrenergic agonist, (Lin et al 1992;Ferraro et al 1996;Wisor and Erikssen 2005), and nicotine also increases release of noradrenalin (Clarke and Reuben 1996;Knott et al 2005;Sarter et al 2005). Both modafinil (Berridge and Waterhouse 2003) and nicotine (Andersson and Hockey 1977;Foulds et al 1996;Knott et al 2005) increase feelings of alertness and arousal, and such a heightened state of alertness may reduce reaction times by promoting an improved readiness to respond to stimuli.…”

“…Both modafinil (Berridge and Waterhouse 2003) and nicotine (Andersson and Hockey 1977;Foulds et al 1996;Knott et al 2005) increase feelings of alertness and arousal, and such a heightened state of alertness may reduce reaction times by promoting an improved readiness to respond to stimuli. A general increase in arousal is unlikely to explain the results, however.…”

Smoking and Opioid Detoxification: Behavioral Changes and Response to Treatment

“…Smokers frequently report intense craving even without nicotine deprivation (Hughes, 1992), and many endorse more severe urges than during abstinence (Cox et al, 2001;Piper et al, 2011). In this regard, clonidine has shown to reduce craving following smoking cessation and it seems less effective in attenuating smoking-induced craving (Knott et al, 2005). The observation that only "positive" tobacco urges were significantly elevated among intreatment smokers is consistent with laboratory findings that smoking does not extinguish craving but may generate expectations of more reward through more smoking (Dols, van den Hout, Kindt, & Willems, 2002), as confirmed by higher number of cigarettes smoked at early follow-up in our sample.…”

Nicotine effects on retrieval-induced forgetting are not attributable to changes in arousal

“…Administration of nicotine, however, also increases general arousal (Andersson and Hockey 1977;Knott et al 2005). This produces indirect benefits to memory under delayed recall but not immediate recall conditions (Andersson and Hockey 1977;Knott et al 1998), and may be responsible for other cognitive enhancing effects of nicotine (Gilbert and Gilbert 1998).…”