Wei Chen1,
Joseph R. DiFranza2, Jean King3
1Department of Psychiatry, University
of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, , United States; 2Department
of Family Medicine and Community Health,, University of Massachusetts Medical
School, Worcester; 3Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts
Medical School, Worcester, MA, United States
Tobacco
dependence is the most preventable cause of death. Varenicline is a partial
nicotinic receptor agonist/antagonist that is widely used as a smoking
cessation aid. How varenicline helps
smokers is unknown. We sought to
compare the brain Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) activation
produced by a high dose varenicline to a lower dose varenicline in awake
nave animals, which hopes to assist in understanding the action of this
partial nicotinic receptor agonist/antagonist in patients.