Molecular Visualization • 2022

Nicotine: Behind the Smoke.

STORY

Nicotine binds to the acetylcholine receptor in the brain and activates the reward system in our central nervous system, thus inducing the user to continue nicotine consumption and leading to addiction.

This mock Scientific American spread is intended to educate a general audience on the molecular mechanisms behind addiction and cancer by nicotine and its derivatives, such as nitrosamines.

OVERVIEW

FORMAT

Editorial, journal spread

TOOLS

Autodesk Maya, VMD, Protein Imager, UCSF Chimera, Photoshop, Illustrator

CLIENT

Prof. Derek Ng, University of Toronto

Project coming soon!

Asset Creation

    1. 4ejh, 4ejj: DeVore, N. M. and Scott, E. E. (2012) Nicotine and 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone binding and access channel in human cytochrome P450 2A6 and 2A13 enzymes. Journal of Biological Chemistry 287, 26576–26585.

    2. 6pv7: Gharpure, A., Teng, J., Zhuang, Y., Noviello, C. M., Walsh, Jr., R. M., Cabuco, R., Howard, R. J., Zaveri, N. T., Lindahl, E., and Hibbs, R. E. (2019) Agonist selectivity and ion permeation in the α3β4 ganglionic nicotinic receptor. Neuron 104, 501-511.

    3. Bonner, E., Chang, Y., Christie, E., Colvin, V., Cunningham, B., Elson, D., Ghetu, C., Huizenga, J., Hutton, S. J., Kolluri, S. K., Maggio, S., Moran, I., Parker, B., Rericha, Y., Rivera, B. N., Samon, S., Schwichtenberg, T., Shankar, P., Simonich, M. T., Wilson, L. B., and Tanguay, R. L. (2021) The chemistry and toxicology of vaping. Pharmacological Therapy 225, 107837.

    4. Daneman, R., & Prat, A. (2015). The blood–brain barrier. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a020412

    5. Dani J. A. (2015) Neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor structure and function and response to nicotine. International Review of Neurobiology 124, 3–19.

    6. Dani, J. A. and Bertrand, D. (2007) Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and nicotinic cholinergic mechanisms of the central nervous system. Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology 47, 699-729.

    7. National Center for Biotechnology Information (2022). PubChem Compound Summary for CID 89594, Nicotine. Retrieved July 15, 2022 from https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/89594.

    8. Wittenberg, R. E., Wolfman, S. L., De Biasi, M., and Dani J. A. (2020) Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and nicotine addiction: A brief introduction. Neuropharmacology 177, 108256.

    9. Xue, J., Yang, S., and Seng S. (2014) Mechanisms of cancer induction by tobacco-specific NNK and NNN. Cancers 6, 1138–1156.

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