| Smoking has been repeatedly reported to elicit electrocortical effects which are psychostimulating in origin. Similar findings have been reported among dependent smokers, non-deprived smokers as well as in the non-smoker population. Although the majority of transdermal nicotine studies are clinical cessation trials, the transdermal patch has been shown to produce plasma levels of nicotine similar to smoking as well as mediate negative affective states believed to be related to smoking withdrawal. This suggests a similar effect on electrocortical arousal--as measured by EEG recording techniques--which, to date, has not been previously explored. The acute independent effects of transdermal nicotine patch administration on electrocortical arousal and self-reported mood changes and their relationship was studied. Sixteen male heavy smokers, screened according to inclusionary/exclusionary criteria, participated in this study. Participants were tested within a repeated measures randomized block design where dependent measures (EEG recording, Profile of Mood States Questionnaire) were sampled across two nicotine levels (placebo and 21 mg nicotine) at five separate time intervals (pre patch application and 1,2,3,4 hour post patch application). The results indicated that nicotine appears to reduce slow wave band (delta and theta) amplitude and increase alpha 2 and beta 2 amplitude. Conversely, placebo appears to increase slow wave amplitude while decreasing alpha 2 and beta 2 amplitude. Nicotine appears to primarily mediate affect related to vigilance (i.e. fatigue and vigor). The results of the present study appear to confirm the psychostimulant-like EEG profile reported by previous smoking-EEG studies. |
