Mirtazapine attenuates nicotine-seeking behavior in rats

Nicotine is the major psychoactive component of tobacco. A number of pharmacological therapies have been evaluated, with poor results. Given the lack of success of these therapies, several authors have proposed alternative therapeutic strategies. One of these is the use of antidepressant drugs that may have a specific effect on the neural pathways or receptors underlying nicotine addiction. Mirtazapine is an antagonist of α₂ NE receptors (noradrenergic receptor), 5-HT_2A/C and 5-HT₃ receptors and has demonstrated efficacy in reducing behavioral effects induced by drugs of abuse in human and animal models.

In this study, we evaluated the effect of chronic dosing of mirtazapine during extinction on the re-acquisition of nicotine-seeking in rodents.

We used the nicotine self-administration paradigm to assess the effects of mirtazapine on rats trained to self-administer nicotine under a pharmacological fixed-ratio schedule. Mirtazapine (30 mg/kg, i.p.) was administered during extinction.

In this work, we found that mirtazapine attenuates the re-acquisition of nicotine-seeking responses.

These results support the use of mirtazapine in clinical controlled trials as a useful therapy that prolongs and increases rates of preventing relapse into nicotine intake in humans.