PARIS: French scientists said Monday they had found the first biological evidence to back claims that smoking destroys brain cells and impedes production of new ones. A team led by Pier-Vincenzo Piazza and Djoher Nora Abrous at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) allowed three groups of rats to administer themselves intravenous jolts of nicotine while a fourth was allowed no nicotine at all.
The nicotine doses were either low (0.02 miligrams per kilo), medium (0.04 mg/kilo) or high (0.08 mg/kilo). In all three of the nicotine-taking groups, the rats suffered a major fall in production of PSA-NCAM, a protein which plays a vital role in the “plasticity” of the brain – something that is related to the ability to learn and memorise.
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