| Abstract No.: | B-G2192 |
| Country: | Canada |
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| Title: | THE MODERATING EFFECTS OF NICOTINE ON ATTENTIONAL PROCESSING AND MOOD IN ADOLESCENT DEPRESSIVE DISORDER. |
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| Authors/Affiliations: | 1 Natalia Jaworska*;1 Judy McIntosh;1 Crystal Villeneuve; 1 Crystal Villeneuve; 1 Andrea Thompson;1 Derek Fisher; 1 Robert Milin; 1 Verner Knott;
1 University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
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| Content: | Adolescents exhibiting depressive symptoms are at an increased risk of smoking initiation. Further, smoking in adolescents is associated with an increased rate of major depressive disorder (MDD). Although smoke inhalation of nicotine may reflect self-medication of symptoms, there is a paucity of studies assessing the effects of pharmacologically active doses of nicotine in adolescents with MDD.
Objective: There is sufficient evidence indicating that MDD is associated with problems in attention/concentration and that nicotine, in healthy volunteers, can modulate attention. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate whether acute nicotine administration in adolescent smokers with MDD would alter performance and electrophysiological measurements (via event-related potential [ERP] recordings) as well as measures of subjective mood during a sustained attention task.
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in seven symptomatic, psychotropic-free MDD adolescent female smokers using a within-subject, randomized, double-blind design. Mood ratings, obtained with the Profile of Moods Scale (POMS), and ERPs derived from the AX version of the continuous performance task (CPT-AX) were acquired before and two hours after administration of a transdermal placebo or nicotine (21 mg) patch.
Results: Preliminary ERP data analysis provided evidence of altered cognitive processing following nicotine administration, with reduced P300 amplitudes and shortened P300 latencies, suggesting a reduction in attention and improvement in processing speed, respectively.
Conclusions: These findings, along with nicotine effects on performance and mood will be described in relation to nicotinic receptor (nAchR) involvement in adolescent MDD.
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