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[The effect of cigarettes on somatosensory potentials]
F E León1, S Suwazono, K Arimura
1Departament of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham 35294, USA.
Introduction And Objective:
The physiological and pathological effects of cigarettes on the nervous system have been widely studied, but none of the investigations carried out has enabled us to determine the degree to which nicotine may affect the central pathways of somatosensorial evoked potentials in humans.
Material And Methods:
Following parameters established internationally for investigation of the effects of nicotine on the nervous system, we find that the N18 wave obtained by stimulation of the median nerve before smoking completely disappears after smoking for 3 minutes and reappears 10 minutes after smoking has stopped.
Conclusions:
Therefore, we conclude that the action of nicotine on these evoked potentials is mainly subcortical, and for this reason it is essential to investigate the toxicological history before carrying out any clinical or neurophysiological study, since this might affect the results obtained.