Nicotine Dependence, Withdrawal and Replacement Therapy Assessed by PET Imaging
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2018-12-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
The proposed research will provide significant new gender-specific information of scientific
and clinical relevance on the function of the mu-opioid system in nicotine dependence and
therapeutic effectiveness of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). The studies will help to
explain the differences in the prevalence of smoking in men and women, sex-specific
differences in nicotine craving and withdrawal as well as the poorer therapeutic response to
NRT. This work may pave the way to the design of improved pharmacotherapies that can more
effectively target the endogenous opioid system in the treatment of nicotine dependence.