RE: Is nicotine toxic to the liver

[Guest guest]

Marie,

Our transplant unit has a zero tolerance of any alcohol OR nicotine,

so although I don’t know personally, somebody in the hierarchy thinks it’s

bad!

Good luck with giving it up,

Penny T (Australia)

[Guest guest]

I don't have any input on this, but am interested in the answer. I

keep hearing how PSC is generally a non-smoker's disease. So, I've

been wondering if starting on nicotine patches could slow its

progression. Sounds corny, but I'm grasping at straws at the moment.

Suzanna

[Guest guest]

Hi Marie;

The metabolism of nicotine is extremely complex, as described in this

article, and dependent upon a huge number of factors:

Hukkanen J, P 3rd, Benowitz NL 2005 Metabolism and disposition

kinetics of nicotine. Pharmacol. Rev. 57: 79-115.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15734728

http://pharmrev.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/57/1/79

Since it is metabolized primarily in the liver, it could potentially

become more toxic as liver disease progresses, and as its metabolism

and excretion is impaired.

A small pilot study in PSC patients who had never smoked, showed that

oral nicotine (6 mg four times a day for up to one year) did not

alter liver biochemistry significantly, but it was associated with

other adverse effects (dizziness and heart palpitations):

Angulo P, Bharucha AE, nsen RA, DeSotel CK, Sandborn WJ, Larusso

NF, Lindor KD 1999 Oral nicotine in treatment of primary sclerosing

cholangitis: a pilot study. Dig. Dis. Sci. 44: 602-607.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10080157

Nicotine has been used to treat ulcerative colitis, and its benefical

effects may be related to protecting gut barrier function:

McGrath J, Mc J, Macdonald J 2004 Transdermal nicotine for

induction of remission in ulcerative colitis. Cochrane Database Syst.

Rev. 4: CD004722.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15495126

McGilligan VE, Wallace JM, Heavey PM, Ridley DL, Rowland IR 2007

Hypothesis about mechanisms through which nicotine might exert its

effect on the interdependence of inflammation and gut barrier

function in ulcerative colitis. Inflamm. Bowel Dis. 13: 108-115.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17206646

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/114025998/PDFSTART

McGilligan VE, Wallace JM, Heavey PM, Ridley DL, Rowland IR 2007 The

effect of nicotine in vitro on the integrity of tight junctions in

Caco-2 cell monolayers. Food Chem. Toxicol. 45: 1593-1598.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17399881

You might scrutinize the McGrath paper to see if any hepatotoxicity

was reported?

Good luck in trying to switch to the patch. The first paper (Hukkanen

et al, 2005) has some interesting observations on how gum versus

patch nicotine is absorbed and metabolized.

Best regards,

Dave

(father of (22), PSC 07/03; UC 08/03)

> Does anyone know if nicotine is actually toxic to the liver?

[Guest guest]

Smoking is toxic to the body; especially for the arteries, and the

lungs.It is the effect on the arteries that causes heart attacks,

stokes, and sexual dysfuntion. The nicotine itself is less noxious.

Smoking is especially harmful post transplant because of escalating

cancer risk and hardening of the arteries.

If I remember right, nicotine has been shown to reduce pain in Chrons

disease but not UC.

There is a wonderful medication, verinacyline/Chantix that reduces

cravings for nicotine and help motivated quitter. I've had people

report that it reduces the nicotine hunger.

Von