Experiments with rodents accustomed to nicotine have shown that the artificial protein NicA2-J1 allows you to keep its content in the blood under control - and defeat the bad habit.
The team of Professor Olivier George of the Scripps Research Institute managed to obtain an artificial enzyme that can quickly decompose the nicotine entering the body. Protein NicA2-J1 has already been successfully tested in laboratory rats accustomed to nicotine, allowed to control its content in the blood and reduce cravings for it. Scientists report this in an article published in the journal Science Advances.
NicA2-J1 was created based on a protein synthesized by common soil bacteria, Pseudomonas putida sticks - they are easy to find in genetic laboratories and in industrial bioreactors. The nicotine hydrolyzing enzyme has been optimized to increase its retention time in the animal's body and to achieve greater efficiency.
For drug testing, rats were placed in a chamber for 12 consecutive days for 21 hours a day, where they could receive an intravenous dose of nicotine simply by pressing the pedal. This quickly led to the development of their addiction, after which they were "given" nicotine only once every two days, forcing them to experience all the unpleasant symptoms of drug withdrawal and to increase the dose during rare doses. As a result, she reached an amount that the authors compare with smoking 20 cigarettes at once, but only once every 48 hours. Finally, after each dose of nicotine, the animals began to receive the preparation of the synthetic protein NicA2-J1.
Their blood nicotine levels remained low even after ingestion, and withdrawal symptoms - including anxiety and aggressiveness - were diminished compared to control rats. Their desire to receive a new dose also decreased. Moreover, if pressing the pedal with a probability of 1/3 led not to the receipt of nicotine, but to an unpleasant electric shock, the control group, which retained the addiction, continued to press, and the rats who received NicA2-J1 easily gave up this - and the habit itself.
"This approach is extremely interesting because it can reduce nicotine dependence without severe withdrawal symptoms," says Olivier Georg. "Plus, it works in the blood, not the brain, so side effects should be minimal."
Sergey Vasiliev
