Using tobacco causes brain damage

June 23, 12:35 PMBaltimore Science News ExaminerMary Spiro

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Smoking could destroy your brain. Credit: Lanier67

Consuming tobacco in any form has never been a smart move, and it’s not like anyone needs another reason to quit using it. But a recent study shows that a compound in tobacco could actually make your  own immune defense system attack the healthy cells in your brain. In effect, smoking could make you dumb...or dumber.

A report in the July issue of the Journal of Neurochemistry describes a direct link between a certain compound found in tobacco and brain damage. Work by researchers Debapriya Ghosh and Anirban Basu of the Indian National Brain Research Center found that a substance called NNK activated microglia, the cells that lie between neurons and remove unhealthy or damaged cells and pathogens from the brain. When activated by NNK, the microglia attacked healthy cells in the central nervous system, leading to neurological damage.

As explained in the press release, “NNK does not appear to harm the brain cells directly.” Instead the researchers believe that damage results from neuroinflammation triggered by the brain’s immune system. In their study, Ghosh and Basu observed this excitement of the microglia in both in vitro and in vivo studies, the latter using a mouse model. They report that NNK provoked an “exaggerated response” from the microglia and caused the normally protective cells to destroy healthy brain cells, as if they were foreign invaders. What’s more, their research indicated that tobacco consumed in any form—smoked, chewed and from second-hand smoke, exposed the cells to measurable levels of NNK and promoted this neuroinflammatory response. NNK (officially known as 4-(methylnitrosamino)- 1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone) is a protein produced by the curing process of tobacco.

This study contributes to the ever-growing body of research that proves the truly harmful effects of consuming tobacco. The science further reinforces the logic behind the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which garnered overwhelming support from both houses of Congress and which President Obama signed into effect June 22.

The act gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate cigarette ingredients, to ban the marketing of so-called “light” cigarettes and to require that tobacco products carry more graphic warning labels. It also imposes strict rules on where tobacco products can be marketed (i.e. not near a school) and says that tobacco companies must provide more detailed descriptions of the ingredients in their products.

Though I have never picked up the habit myself, both may parents where heavy smokers. I sometimes wonder how much smarter I might have been had I not been exposed for so long to so much cigarette smoke. And I also wonder when President Obama give up his own smoking habit, once and for all.

For more information: Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

Reference:

Ghosh.D Mishra M. K, Das.S , Kaushik D.K and Basu.A, Tobacco carcinogen induces microglial activation and subsequent neuronal damage, Journal of Neurochemistry, July 2009.