尼古丁依赖的神经生物学机制

尼古丁依赖是香烟成瘾的主要原因，其特征为无法克制的尼古丁觅求冲动，以及强迫性地、连续地使用尼古丁，以体验其带来的欣快感和愉悦感，并避免可能产生的戒断症状。该文主要从动物模型和人类脑功能成像两个方面来综述已有关于尼古丁依赖的神经生物学机制的研究成果，发现中脑边缘多巴胺系统是尼古丁依赖中的重要神经生物学基础。然而，目前对于尼古丁依赖的研究主要从静态的角度出发，较少研究其动态过程；并且尼古丁依赖与其他药物依赖之间的差异也缺乏直接的证据，因此这些都将成为将来可能的研究方向。

Neurobiological Mechanism of Nicotine Dependence

Nicotine dependence is the main cause of cigarette addiction, which is characterized by uncontrollable compulsion of nicotine-seeking, impulsive and continuous nicotine in-taking,in order to experience euphoria and happiness, and to avoid withdrawal symptoms without nicotine. This article reviewed some research findings of neurobiological mechanism of nicotine dependence from both animal model and human brain imaging study, which revealed that mesolimbic dopamine system is the important neurobiological basis of nicotine dependence. However, previous studies mostly took a static approach, but rarely considered the dynamic process of nicotine dependence; there are also lack of enough evidences of the differences between nicotine dependence and other drugs dependence, which will direct the future studies.