So , let's talk about what those effects are . And let's do that by dividing the effects of nicotine into effects on the brain . So everything from the neck up and on the body , the so-called central nervous system and the periphery .
Now , there are a lot of different nicotinic acetylcholine receptors . But for those of you that wanna know you aficionados or if you're ultra curious about this , the main effects of nicotine in the brain are mediated by nicotine binding to the so called alpha four beta two receptor , alpha four beta two receptor . Even if you don't care about receptor subtypes , that's gonna come up later when we discuss why nicotine suppresses appetite .
We're talking about in a moment . Now , within the brain , nicotine binds to this alpha four beta two receptor in various locations in the brain . And there are three and maybe 1/4 that we talk about neurochemical effects of nicotine after you ingest it .
Accumbens . Nicotine also triggers the release of certain neurochemicals from the ventral tegmental area itself . And those impinge on nucleus a commons and increase dopamine levels further .
I should mention for a variety of reasons and placing tobacco directly in contact with the mucosal lining is going to be the slowest . Now , as I mentioned before , nicotine gets into the bloodstream and then because nicotine can pass through the so called blood brain barrier , the BBB , which is basically a fence around the brain because it can pass through the blood brain barrier . It's going to have very rapid effects on the brain in these four major categories of neurochemicals and neural circuits .
