SMOKING AND THE EFFECTS OF NICOTINE IN WOMEN

随着女性的吸烟率已经赶上男性，吸烟已经 这对妇女来说是一个严重的健康问题。如果更具体和 要为妇女设计有效的治疗方法，重要的是 确定之前在男性身上的发现是否一定可以推广 对女性来说，或者生物和/或文化差异是否需要 考虑到这一点。 在过去的几年里，人们越来越多地认识到 与月经周期相关的系统性荷尔蒙波动 不仅对生殖生物学产生了影响，而且对许多其他 情绪、行为和认知功能的各方面。最近的研究与 女性吸烟者建议在月经期吸烟可能会增加。 与身体不适、烦躁不安和戒断有关 对于试图戒烟的女性来说，症状可能会更严重 月经周期的后期。这次更新的具体目标是 项目是在主体内部进行一系列重复的措施 对女性吸烟者进行的为期一年的研究：1)压力诱导 吸烟行为和整个月经周期的尼古丁摄入量，以及他们的 与行为、主观和心理上的周期性变化 生理变量，将在研究I中探索；尼古丁(自身 通过吸烟给药)被视为主要依赖者 变量。2)尼古丁对生理、行为和 主观反应和应激激素(儿茶酚胺和前 阿片黑素皮质组)将在#年的月经周期中进行检查 研究II和III；尼古丁作为自变量， 通过鼻腔喷雾剂以受控剂量给吸烟者。3) 戒烟一周的能力差异将在两个月内进行测试 被要求在月经周期的不同时间点禁食的配对小组 在第四项研究中，这项研究探讨了阶段是否需要 在戒烟建议中考虑到这一点。4) 月经中期黄体晚期尼古丁摄入量的差异 使用纳曲酮的阿片类药物阻断将进行双盲检查， 研究V中的安慰剂对照设计，提供了一种潜在的解释 吸烟在这一阶段的强化值明显增加。 因为关于行为的系统研究很少， 吸烟的主观、生理和神经体液表现 女性，最初的研究将主要是描述性的，试图 阐明吸烟与吸烟之间动态关系的潜在机制 行为和月经周期只有在适当的 建立了实证基础。

As women's smoking rates have caught up with those of men, smoking has emerged as a critical health problem for women. If more specific and effective treatments for women are to be devised, it is important to determine whether previous findings in men can necessarily be generalized to women, or whether biological and/or cultural differences need to be taken into account. Over the past several years, there has been growing recognition that systematic hormonal fluctuations associated with the menstrual cycle have had an impact not only upon reproductive biology but upon numerous other aspects of mood, behavior, and cognitive function. Recent research with women smokers suggests that smoking may be enhanced during menstrual phases associated with physical discomfort and dysphoria and withdrawal symptomatology may be more severe in women who attempt to quit in the latter part of the menstrual cycle. The specific aims of this renewal project are to carry out a sequence of within-subject, repeated measures studies in women smokers over a f-year period: 1) Stress-induction of smoking behavior and nicotine intake across the menstrual cycle, and their relationship to cyclical changes in behavioral, subjective, and physiological variables, will be explored in Study I; nicotine (self- administered via cigarette smoking) serves as the principal dependent variable. 2) Nicotine's acute effects on physiological, behavioral, and subjective responses and on stress hormones (catecholamines and the pro- opiomelanocortin group) will be examined across the menstrual cycle in Studies II and III; nicotine serves as the independent variable and is administered to the smoker in controlled doses via intranasal aerosol. 3) Differences in ability to stop smoking for a week will be tested in two matched groups asked to abstain at different points in the menstrual cycle in Study IV; this study explores the question of whether phase needs to be taken into account in recommendations for smoking cessation. 4) Differences in nicotine intake in the late luteal phase following mid-cycle opioid blockade using naltrexone will be examined in a double-blind, placebo controlled design in Study V, providing a potential explanation for the apparent increase in reinforcement value for smoking in this phase. Because there has been so little systematic research on the behavioral, subjective, physiological, and neurohumoral manifestations of smoking in women, the initial studies will be largely descriptive, with attempts to elucidate mechanisms underlying the dynamic relations between smoking behavior and the menstrual cycle to be undertaken only after a suitable empirical base is established.