Effects of tobacco smoke constituents, anabasine and anatabine, on memory and attention in female rats

Abstract

Nicotine has been well characterized to improve memory and attention. Nicotine is the primary, but not only neuroactive compound in tobacco. Other tobacco constituents such as anabasine and anatabine also have agonist actions on nicotinic receptors. The current study investigated the effects of anabasine and anatabine on memory and attention. Adult female Sprague-Dawley rats were trained on a win-shift spatial working and reference memory task in the 16-arm radial maze or a visual signal detection operant task to test attention. Acute dose-effect functions of anabasine and anatabine over two orders of magnitude were evaluated for both tasks. In the radial-arm maze memory test, anabasine but not anatabine significantly reduced the memory impairment caused by the NMDA antagonist dizocilpine (MK-801). In the signal detection attentional task, anatabine but not anabasine significantly attenuated the attentional impairment caused by dizocilpine. These studies show that non-nicotine nicotinic agonists in tobacco, similar to nicotine, can significantly improve memory and attentional function. Both anabasine and anatabine produced cognitive improvement, but their effectiveness differed with regard to memory and attention. Follow-up studies with anabasine and anatabine are called to determine their efficacy as therapeutics for memory and attentional dysfunction.

A Pharmacological Comparison of Two Isomeric Nicotinic Receptor Agonists: The Marine Toxin Isoanatabine and the Tobacco Alkaloid Anatabine

“…Racemic anatabine was marketed as an herbal supplement called Anatabloc by Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals. Several studies supported by this company have shown that anatabine, in addition to its anti-inflammatory actions, has procognitive [40][41][42][43], neuro-protective [44], immune disease modulating [45,46], and smoking cessation actions. Anatabine partially substitutes for nicotine in drug discrimination behavioral assays but does not have the addictive potency of nicotine [47,48].…”

Nicotine mediates expression of genes related to antioxidant capacity and oxidative stress response in HIV-1 transgenic rat brain

“…Nicotine is an agonist of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) and a major psychoactive component in tobacco smoke (Levin et al , 2014). However, research on the neuroprotective and neurotoxic effects of nicotine in the CNS has been inconclusive (Nie et al , 2013; Nordberg et al , 2002; Picciotto and Zoli, 2008b; Zeng et al , 2001).…”

“…However, research on the neuroprotective and neurotoxic effects of nicotine in the CNS has been inconclusive (Nie et al , 2013; Nordberg et al , 2002; Picciotto and Zoli, 2008b; Zeng et al , 2001). For example, nicotine has been shown to produce significant improvement in the attention span and memory performance in both human and animal studies (Knott et al , 2012; Levin et al , 2014) and has been implicated in neuroprotective effects against β-amyloid-mediated neurotoxicity as well as the enhanced neuroplasticity in transgenic model for Alzheimer’s disease in mice (Nie et al , 2013). These effects are likely mediated by up-regulation of nAChR expression and decrease in the accumulation of β-amyloid peptide leading to a decrease in neurotoxicity (Kihara et al , 1997; Nordberg et al , 2002; Picciotto and Zoli, 2008b; Zeng et al , 2001).…”

Effect of Smoking in Cognition

“…These substances are considered to improve cognition in terms of memory and attention [8]. In our set up the cognition was assessed using Montreal cognitive assessment.…”