N-Acetylcysteine and Smoking Reduction
Summary
N-acetylcysteine is an inexpensive agent with a benign side effect profile with preliminary studies in humans suggesting efficacy for the treatment of cocaine dependence. N-acetylcysteine has been used in clinical medicine for nearly three decades to treat chronic lung conditions, acetaminophen overdose, and experimentally to treat cocaine dependence. It is generally safe and well tolerated. The present pilot study seeks to explore safety and tolerability, ad lib smoking, visual cue reactivity, and smoking reduction rates in a group of nontreatment seeking, nicotine dependence smokers who are willing to undergo a brief trial with oral N-acetylcysteine 1200 mg twice daily.
Study Design
Allocation: Randomized, Control: Placebo Control, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Double Blind (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor), Primary Purpose: Treatment
Conditions
Nicotine Dependence
Intervention
N-acetylcysteine, Placebo
Location
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston
South Carolina
United States
29425
Status
Completed
Source
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Results (where available)
Links
- Source: http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00751257
- Information obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov on July 15, 2010
Medical and Biotech [MESH] Definitions
Nicotine
Nicotine is highly toxic alkaloid. It is the prototypical agonist at nicotinic cholinergic receptors where it dramatically stimulates neurons and ultimately blocks synaptic transmission. Nicotine is also important medically because of its presence in tobacco smoke.
Morphine Dependence
Strong dependence, both physiological and emotional, upon morphine.
Heroin Dependence
Strong dependence, both physiological and emotional, upon heroin.
Therapeutic Misconception
Misunderstanding among individuals, frequently research subjects, of scientific methods such as randomization and placebo controls.
Acetylcysteine
The N-acetyl derivative of CYSTEINE. It is used as a mucolytic agent to reduce the viscosity of mucous secretions. It has also been shown to have antiviral effects in patients with HIV due to inhibition of viral stimulation by reactive oxygen intermediates.
Clinical Trials
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The proposed work will advance the understanding and effectiveness of tobacco dependence treatment and result in more smokers quitting successfully.
Assessment of High Dose Transdermal Nicotine for Fast Metabolizers of Nicotine
Unfortunately, the investigators still need to assess and identify novel ways to help people quit smoking. Differences between people in terms of how fast they metabolize nicotine influenc...
Testing a Full Substitution Therapy Approach As Treatment of Tobacco Dependence
This study will test a new medication strategy designed to help smokers quit. It will combine selegiline, a drug currently approved and available for the treatment of Parkinson's disease,...
An Effectiveness Trial of Maintenance Therapy for Nicotine Dependence
The transdermal nicotine patch is the most widely used form of tobacco dependence treatment in the US and Europe, but most smokers are unable to successfully quit with this form of treatme...
This is a 2-year study involving the progressive reduction in the nicotine content of cigarettes. The investigators believe that at the end of the study smokers of cigarettes with progress...
PubMed Articles
Relapse is the rule rather than the exception in smokers aiming to quit smoking. Recently, evidence has emerged that glutamate transmission plays an important role in relapse. N-acetylcysteine (NAC),...
RATIONALE: It is well established that nicotine improves, and deprivation impairs, cognitive performance and mood in smokers. Prospective memory (PM), remembering to execute a delayed intention at a g...
Considerable variability across individuals has been reported in both the behavioral and fMRI blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response to nicotine. We aimed to investigate (1) whether there is a h...
OBJECTIVES: We investigated whether nicotine dependence affects these endophenotypes in Japanese schizophrenia patients and whether alpha4 and beta2 subunits of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine recept...
Effects of Asthma on Nicotine Dependence Development and Smoking Cessation Attempts in Adolescence.
Objective. The aim of this study was to investigate whether asthma predicts the development of nicotine dependence and unsuccessful smoking cessation attempts in adolescent smokers. In addition, wheth...
