How to Quit Smoking: Scientists Find Enzyme That Eats Nicotine Before It Reaches the Brain

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Scientists from the Scripps, Skaggs and Worm Institutes (TSRI) have recreated a bacterial enzyme, which could possibly help smokers kick the habit indefinitely. According to I4U News, the latest data from the study was published in the American Chemical Society journal and titled, "A New Strategy for Smoking Cessation." 

Scientists have been working on creating the enzyme in a laboratory setting for nearly 30 years, states The Hoops News. But the Scripps researchers stumbled across a bacterial enzyme found in the soil of tobacco fields, which had the features they were trying to create in their lab experiments.

The scientists discovered that the bacterium relied on carbon and nitrogen to stay alive, both of which are abundant in nicotine. As a result, the bacterium's main life source was nicotine. The scientist called the bacterial enzyme NicA2.

"The bacterium is like a little Pac-Man. It goes along and eats Nicotine," said Kim D. Janda, one of the researchers of the study. 

According to the TSRI scientists, nicotine usually takes only 20 seconds to reach the brain after taking just one puff of a cigarette, but it will stay in the brain for a longer period of time. Nicotine molecules can linger in the brain for about two or three hours before they disappear completely, researchers said. 

When tested on mice, NicA2 was found to decrease the amount of time nicotine molecules stayed in the brain, from two-three hours to just 9-10 minutes. Scientsts are currently tinkering with the enzyme's bacterial makeup so that it can eat the nicotine molecules faster. 

Janda explains that NicA2 will eventually be able to attack and eat all the nicotine found in any tobacco products before it even reaches the brain. Thereby, preventing the brain from releasing dopamine, the neurotransmitter responsible for the feeling of pleasure people get from smoking. 

Scientists believe that if people do not get the same pleasurable reward out of smoking, they will eventually just quit, reports the Inquisitr.

NicA2 is thought to be very revolutionary, since it will be the only form of anti-smoking aid that successfully eliminates the cause of the addiction, rather that susbstituting it. 

The Inquisitr explains that the anti-smoking aids used today, like the patch or lozenges, only help smokers quit about 10-20 percent of the time. Furthermore, patches, lozenges and the like may help people quit the routine of smoking, but do not help diffuse the smoker's addiction to nicotine.

The anti-smoking aids available right now still contain nicotine and merely transfer a person's addiction from cigerrettes to the anti-smoking aid. NicA2 will not only help smokers quit, but has the potential to stop their addiction to nicotine itself.

Janda says that NicA2 is still in the early stages of development. She explains that TSRI scientists are still working on its bacterial makeup to ensure that people do not get any side effects from using it. 

"...The study tells us the enzyme has the right properties to eventually become a successful therapeutic," Janda said.