ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996 TAG: 9602220054
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
Smoking reduces the brain's supply of a certain enzyme, which might heighten the addictive power of nicotine, a study suggests.
If so, drugs used to treat Parkinson's disease might help people quit smoking, said researcher Joanna Fowler of PET the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y., who presented the work in today's issue of the journal Nature.
Researchers scanned the brains of eight smokers, eight nonsmokers and four ex-smokers and measured the levels of MAO B, which is involved in the natural destruction of dopamine.
The scans found that smokers average about 40 percent less MAO B than nonsmokers had. Fowler speculated that with less of the enzyme around, the extra dopamine produced in response to nicotine is less subject to destruction. - Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 28 linesby CNB