Experiments with rodents accustomed to nicotine have shown that the artificial protein NicA2-J1 helps to overcome the habit..

The team of the Scripps Research Institute Olivier Georg managed to get an artificial enzyme that can quickly decompose the nicotine entering the body. The NicA2-J1 protein has already been successfully tested in laboratory rats accustomed to nicotine, allowed to control its blood levels and reduced craving for it. About this, scientists report in an article published in the journal Science Advances, writes naked-science. ru.

The basis for the creation of NicA2-J1 was taken as a protein synthesized by common soil bacteria, Pseudomonas putida rods - they are easy to find in genetic laboratories and in industrial bioreactors. The hydrolyzing nicotine enzyme has been optimized to increase the time it is stored in the animal’s body and to achieve greater efficiency.

For testing rats for 12 days in a row for 21 hours a day, they were placed in a cell where they could receive a dose of nicotine intravenously by simply pressing a pedal. This quickly led to the development of addiction in rodents, after which nicotine was “given out” to them only once every two days, forcing them to go through all the unpleasant symptoms of drug withdrawal and to increase the dose during rare receptions.. As a result, it reached the amount that the authors compare with smoking 20 cigarettes at once, but only once every 48 hours.. Finally, animals after each dose of nicotine began to receive and preparation of the synthetic protein NicA2-J1.

The nicotine content in their blood, even after ingestion, remained low, and withdrawal symptoms — including anxiety and aggressiveness — weakened in comparison to rats from the control group.. Their desire to get a new dose was also reduced..

Moreover, if pressing the pedal with a probability of 1/3 did not lead to nicotine production, but to an unpleasant electric shock, the control group continued to press the pedal, and the rats that received NicA2-J1 easily refused from it -.

“This approach is extremely interesting, as it can reduce dependence on nicotine without severe withdrawal symptoms,” says Olivier Georg. - In addition, it works in the blood and not in the brain, so the side effects should be minimal.

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