Brain stimulation with magnetic field increases or reduces urge to nicotine

January 9, 2012

"Biological Psychiatry" magazine has published results of fresh scientific research, telling that purposeful brain stimulation is able to increase urge to cigarettes. Such stimulation can appear in case when smoker sees someone who has lighted up cigarette and provoke breakdown if person tries to quit smoking.

In point of fact, many ways to help person quit smoking, such as hypnosis or acupuncture are based on inactivation of a brain part that is responsible for urge to tobacco. Now scientists don't doubt this, but previously they have only supposed.

During desire to smoke inflame the same parts of cerebral cortex and limbic system that are responsible for generation and demonstration of emotions. Scientists from Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research (CNSCR) have made an experiment of brain structures stimulation with the help of harmless electromagnetic current. And then, by changing the frequency of fluctuations they have managed to suppress neural chain activity by that reducing urge to nicotine.

It turned out that if influencing the front convolution with magnetic field with frequency 10 Hertz, in this case desire to smoke during image demonstration of lighted up cigarette increases. Low frequency - 1 Hertz - has lowered the urge of test persons to tobacco. Approximately in the same way current has influenced volunteers with frequency that has significantly exceeded 10 Hertz. Detected effects promise to be useful in new experimental methods of nicotinism treatment.