Magnesium and Zinc Involvement in Tobacco Addiction

Abstract

This paper is a review regarding magnesium and zinc influence on smoking and tobacco addiction. Magnesium and zinc are two very important bivalent cations involved in different functions of central nervous system. There are different mechanisms by which magnesium can decrease the nicotine addiction. Magnesium decrease the dopamine release and the NMDA receptor stimulation by glutamate (two essential steps in the devolopment of nicotine addiction). This cation also inhibits the synthesis of substance P and nitric oxide, others important neurotransmiters involved in addiction. Magnesium may decrease the nicotine effect on GABA synthesis and could reduce also NPY involvement in nicotine addiction. Zinc also reduces the glutamatergic brain systems activity and modulates the nicotinic receptors activity from brain. The hypomagnesemia favorises the development of tobacco addiction .The magnesium treatment can be beneficial for reducing the smoking and nicotine addiction in heavy smokers. By increasing the magnesium concentration we can moderately improve the stimulation of the reward system and can reduce the needs of stimulation by nicotine or by others addictive substances. The treatment of intracellular and plasma magnesium deficit could be way to minimize the development of tobacco smoking and nicotine addiction.

The Importance of Magnesium in Clinical Healthcare

“…Mg administration for 4 weeks in heavy adult smokers resulted in a significant decrease in number of cigarettes smoked. Accordingly, Mg may be useful as adjuvant therapy for smoking cessation [81]. …”

The antinociceptive effects of magnesium sulfate and MK-801 in visceral inflammatory pain model: The role of NO/cGMP/K+ATP pathway

“…Additionally, magnesium acts as an antagonist at the glutamate subtype of NMDA receptors and blocks NMDA-induced currents in a voltage-dependent manner by blocking the receptor channel effects (Fawcett et al, 1999). Several lines of evidence indicate that magnesium enhances the analgesic effects of opioids, general, and local anesthetics in different animal models of pain (Assi, 2001;Liu et al, 2001;Nechifor, 2011). As a sole drug, magnesium demonstrated analgesic efficacy against neuropathic pain (Begon et al, 2000;Rondón et al, 2010).…”

Meta-Analysis of Transcriptome-Wide Association Studies Across 13 Brain Tissues Identified Novel Clusters of Genes Associated with Nicotine Addiction

“…Cluster 2 of partially homogeneous genes (e.g. PSMA4) were enriched in pathways related to proteasomal activity (e.g., KEGG Proteasome), intercellular bivalent cations Mg2+ (e.g., GO:MF magnesium ion binding) and chromosome segregation (e.g., GO:BP chromosome segregation) that can be highly impacted by cigarette smoking to inhibit proteasomal activity, cause mental disorders disease and induce segregation anomalies separately reported in the previous studies [41][42][43]. Cluster 3 of heterogeneous genes (e.g., CHRNA3) were enriched in pathways GO:MF acetylcholine-activated cation-selective channel activity and GO:CC acetylcholine-gated channel complex.…”