The influence of drugs on the acute toxicity of cytisine

Cytisine: State of the art in pharmacological activities and pharmacokinetics

Cytisine is a naturally occurring bioactive compound, an alkaloid mainly isolated from legume plants. In recent years, various biological activities of cytisine have been explored, showing certain effects in smoking cessation, reducing drinking behavior, anti-tumor, cardiovascular protection, blood sugar regulation, neuroprotection, osteoporosis prevention and treatment, etc. At the same time, cytisine has the advantages of high efficiency, safety, and low cost, has broad development prospects, and is a drug of great application value. However, a summary of cytisine's biological activities is currently lacking. Therefore, this paper summarizes the pharmacological action, mechanism, and pharmacokinetics of cytisine by referring to numerous databases, and analyzes the new and core targets of cytisine with the help of computer simulation technology, to provide reference for doctors.

Mechanisms involved in the respiratory depressant actions of nicotine in anesthetized rats

In the urethane-pentobarbital anesthetized rat, the respiratory depressant and lethal effects of intravenously infused (-)-nicotine (120 micrograms/kg/min) or (+)-nicotine (600 micrograms/kg/min) were effectively prevented by pretreatment with the opioid antagonist, naltrexone, whereas the lethal effect of (-)-nicotine (120 micrograms/kg/min) was not altered by bilateral adrenalectomy. Further, pretreatment with either the nicotinic ganglion-blocker, mecamylamine, a secondary amine, or the quarternary nicotinic ganglion-blocker, hexamethonium, completely prevented the lethal effects of (-)-nicotine (120 micrograms/kg/min). These data suggest that central opioidergic and nicotinic processes are involved in nicotine's respiratory depressant and lethal effects.