Diabetes drug may reduce withdrawal symptoms and help quit smoking

Smoking cessation may be difficult but it has several advantages including improving health, Prolongation of life, Improving sense of taste and smell and last but not the least saving money.

Smokers trying to quit smoking have to face potent withdrawal symptoms that include cravings, increased appetite, restlessness, anxiety, irritability, and depression. Even though they may want to quit, some smokers continue to smoke simply because the experience is so unpleasant.

Diabetes drug, pioglitazone abolishes the characteristic signs of nicotine withdrawal in animal studies.The finding may offer an important new strategy in the battle to quit smoking. The new research has been published in JNeurosci.

The diabetes drug, pioglitazone, targets a specific form of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors in the nucleus. This receptor, PPARγ, is found in areas of the brain involved in drug addiction.

Domi et al. demonstrated that direct injections of pioglitazone into the hippocampi of male mice reduced the signs of physical nicotine withdrawal, including paw tremors, chattering, and head shakes. Injecting pioglitazone into the amygdala of male mice ameliorated signs of anxiety associated with nicotine withdrawal.

Nicotine abusers face a 30% higher risk of developing Type II diabetes. The researchers suggest pioglitazone may help diabetic smokers quit by lessening the physical and emotional withdrawal symptoms while reducing insulin resistance.