Thread: Nicotine patch and nightmares?

This asked for some research before I could answer.. and it's still inconclusive. I could not find any correlational research done to determine the direct relationship between nicotine and sleep. However, I did find some articles about the correlation between the dorsal raphe serotogenic activation and dreaming.

First, yes, there is no serotonin in nicotine. However, it has been shown that nicotine excites dorsal raphe neurons by depolarizing noradrenergic axons, releasing noradrenaline, which then activates alpha1 receptors on serotonin neurons. 1

In a rat experiment, rats were inject with flesinoxan (a selective 5-HT1A receptor agonist (stimulates serotonin)), and monitored with electorencephalograms (EEG).

"Male Wistar rats, each weighing 320-350g, were implanted with Nichrome electrodes (200 um diameter) for chronic sleep recordings of electroencephalogram and electromyogram activities by means of placement on frontal and occipital cortex for the former, and on dorsal neck musculature for the latter." 2

Edit: See the reference link for the graphs which thoroughly explain the experiment. I could link to the graphs and didn't really deem it necessary.

To sum it up to easily understand, nicotine stimulates vivid dreams. However, they may typically be aggressive dreams. Nightmares may easily precipitate from aggressive dreams simply because of the close biological (and mental) empathetic level. Psychologically, aggressive sleep will produce angry thoughts and frustration. These dreams will cause dreams of profound wish fulfillment usually being the death or murder or an individual. However, with a Jungian perspective, I would say that it would postulate that which in yourself you wish to change and which is flawed - what is causing you the most intrapsychic stress.

It could be useful.. actually..

Although, I could not find conclusive correlational research done between nicotine and dreaming, so, it's really just a (logical) hypothesis.

I hope I have been enlightening.

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References

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1) Li X, Rainnie DG, McCarley RW, Greene RW (1998) Presynaptic nicotinic receptors facilitate monoaminergic transmission. J Neurosci 18:1904-1912.

2) Dorsal Raphe Nucleus Administration of 5-HT Receptor Agonist and Antagonists: Effect on Rapid Eye Movement Sleep in the Rat, Jamie M. Monti, Hector Jantos, Daniel Monti and Fernando Alvarino, Department of Pharamacology and Therapeutic Clinis Hospital, Montevideo, Uruguay, 2000 (PDF Format)

3) \"Convergent Excitation of Dorsal Raphe Serotonin Neurons by Multiple Arousal Systems (Orexin/Hypocretin, Histamine and Noradrenaline)\", Ritchie E. Brown, Olga A. Sergeeva, Krister S. Eriksson, and Helmut L. Haas, Journal of Neuroscience, October 15, 2002, 22(20):8850-8859
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