Rationale

There is strong evidence that nicotine can enhance cognitive functions and growing evidence that this effect may be larger in young healthy APOE ε4 carriers. However, the moderating effects of the APOE ε4 allele on cognitive impairments caused by nicotine deprivation in chronic smokers have not yet been studied with brain indices.

Objective

We sought to determine whether young female carriers of the APOE ε4 allele, relative to noncarriers, would exhibit larger abstinence-induced decreases in P3b amplitude during a two-stimulus auditory oddball task.

Methods

We compared parietal P3bs in female chronic smokers with either APOE ε3/ε3 (n = 54) or ε3/ε4 (n = 20) genotype under nicotine-sated conditions and after 12–17-h nicotine deprivation.

Results

Nicotine deprivation significantly reduced P3b amplitudes in APOE ε4 carriers, but not in APOE-ε3/ε3 individuals, such that the difference seen prior to nicotine deprivation was eliminated.

Conclusions

The results suggest that subjects with the APOE ε4 allele are more sensitive to nicotine, which could influence smoking patterns, the risk for nicotine dependence, and the cognitive effects of nicotine use in these individuals.

中文翻译：

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APOE 基因型影响年轻人 P3b 幅度和对戒烟的反应

基本原理

有强有力的证据表明尼古丁可以增强认知功能，并且越来越多的证据表明这种效应在年轻健康的APOE ε4 携带者中可能更大。然而， APOE ε4 等位基因对长期吸烟者尼古丁剥夺引起的认知障碍的调节作用尚未通过大脑指数进行研究。

客观的

我们试图确定APOE ε4 等位基因的年轻女性携带者相对于非携带者是否会在双刺激听觉奇怪任务中表现出更大的禁欲引起的 P3b 振幅下降。

方法

我们比较了女性慢性吸烟者在尼古丁饱和条件下和 12-17 小时尼古丁剥夺后的顶叶P3bs 与APOE ε3/ε3 ( n = 54) 或 ε3/ε4 ( n = 20) 基因型。

结果

尼古丁剥夺显着降低了APOE ε4 携带者的 P3b 振幅，但在APOE- ε3/ε3 个体中没有，因此消除了尼古丁剥夺之前观察到的差异。

结论

结果表明，携带APOE ε4 等位基因的受试者对尼古丁更敏感，这可能会影响这些人的吸烟模式、尼古丁依赖风险以及尼古丁使用的认知影响。