Abstract
The role of nicotine as an indirect cholinergic agent in sleep has been studied in normal subjects. There are no studies of its effects on sleep in depressed patients. Nicotine transdermal patches (17.5 mg), were studied in eight depressed patients (DSM-III-R) and eight normal volunteers. Subjects wore placebo and nicotine patches for 24 h. Depressed patients showed increased REM sleep without changes in other sleep variables. They also showed a short term improvement of mood. Normal volunteers had sleep fragmentation, and reduction of REM sleep time. No major side effects were reported in either group.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Benwell MEM, Balfour DJK (1979) Effects of nicotine administration and its withdrawal on plasma corticosterone and brain 5-hydroxyindoles. Psychopharmacology 63:7–11
Breslau N, Kilbey M, Andreski P (1991) Nicotine dependence, major depression, and anxiety in young adults. Arch Gen Psychiatry 48:1069–1074
Gillin JC, Lardon M, Ruiz C, Golshan S, Salìn-Pascual RJ (1994) Dose-dependent effects of transdermal nicotine on early morning awakening and rapid eye movement sleep time in nonsmoking normal volunteers. J Clin Psychopharmacol 14:264–267
Glassman AH, Helzer JE, Covey LS, Cottler LB, Stetner F, Tipp JE, Johnson J (1990) Smoking, smoking cessation and major depression. JAMA 264:1546–1549
Giorguieff-Chesselet MF, Kemel ML, Wandscheer D, Glowinski J (1979) Regulation of dopamine release by presynaptic nicotine receptors in rat striatal slices: effect of nicotine in a low concentration. Life Sci 25:1257–1262
Hernández-Peón R, Chávez-Ibarra G, Morgane PJ, Timo-Iaria C (1963) Limbic cholinergic pathway involved in sleep and emotional behavior. Exp Neurol 8:93–111
Imperato A, Mulas A, Di Chiara G (1986) Nicotine preferentially stimulates dopamine release in the limbic system of freely moving rats. Eur J Pharmacol 132:337–338
Iwamoto ET (1989) Antinociception after nicotine administration into mesopontine tegmentum of rats: evidence of muscarinic actions. J. Pharmacol Exp Ther 251:412–421
Janowsky DL, El-Yousef MK, Davis JM (1972) A cholinergic adrenergic hypothesis of mania and depression. Lancet ii:632–635
Kales J, Allen C, Preston TA, Tan TL, Kales A (1970) Changes in REM sleep and dreaming with cigarette smoking and following withdrawal. Association of Professional Sleep Societies meeting 7:347–348
Nisell M, Nomikos GG, Suensson TH (1994) Systemic nicotine-induced dopamine release in the rat nucleus accumbens in regulated by nicotine receptors in the ventral tegmental area. Synapse 16:36–44
Potter WZ, Manji HK (1994) Catecholamines in depression: an update. Clin Chem 40:279–287
Rechtschaffen A, Kales AA (1968) A manual of standardized terminology, techniques, and scoring system for sleep stages of human subjects. Public Health Service, Washington, DC
Riemann D, Wiegand M, Berger M (1990) Sleep deprivation, naps and the cholinergic system in depression In: Bochum HJ (ed) Sleep. A. Pontenagel Press, Heidelberg pp 232–234
Sitaram N, Gillin JC (1980) Development and use of pharmacological probes of the CNS in man: evidence of cholinergic abnormalities in primary affective illness. Biol Psychiatry 15:925–955
Spitzer RL, Williams JBW, Gobbon M (1987) Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R. Biometrics Research Department, New York State Psychiatric Institute
Velázquez-Moctezuma J, Shalauta MD, Gillin JC, Shiromani PJ (1990) Microinjections of nicotine in the medial pontine reticular formation elicits REM sleep. Neurosci Lett 115:265–268
Yu ZJ, Wecker L (1994) Chronic nicotine administration differentially affects neurotransmitter release from rat striatal slices. J Neurochem 63:186–194
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Salín-Pascual, R.J., Galicia-Polo, L., Drucker-Colín, R. et al. Effects of transderman nicotine on mood and sleep in nonsmoking major depresssed patients. Psychopharmacology 121, 476–479 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02246496
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02246496