122 replies to this topic

[caruga]

What are the safety hazards of the gum?

[aLurker]

What are the safety hazards of the gum?

First of all let me just say that nicotine in general is awful for vascular health but that's another topic. The safety hazards more related to nicotine gum in particular are mostly related to oral health. Gum could hurt your gums.
To be a little bit more specific; here is a study about how nicotine could be involved in periodontitis:

Regulation of nicotine-induced cyclooxygenase-2 protein expression in human gingival fibroblasts.

Activation of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression by nicotine suggests a potential role for nicotine in the pathogenesis of smoking-associated periodontal disease. The aim of this study was to investigate whether chemical interactions can modulate nicotine-induced COX-2 expression in human gingival fibroblasts (HGF).
METHODS:

Cytotoxicity was investigated by using lactate dehydrogenase leakage assays and Western blotting was used to assess COX-2 expression. Furthermore, buthionine sulfoximine (BSO; an intracellular glutathione synthesis inhibitor), 2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid (OTZ; the precursor of cysteine), and PD98059 (extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase inhibitor) were added to search for the possible regulation mechanisms of nicotine-induced COX-2 expression.
RESULTS:

Nicotine was found to elevate lactate dehydrogenase leakage in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.05). Treatment of HGF with nicotine was shown to mediate COX-2 protein expression. Pretreatment with OTZ decreased nicotine-induced COX-2 protein level by approximately 60 % (P<0.05). However, BSO enhanced nicotine-induced COX-2 protein level up to approximately 3-fold (P<0.05). Treatment of HGF with PD98059 decreased nicotine-induced COX-2 protein expression. In addition, nicotine induced extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase phosphorylation in a time-dependent manner (P<0.05).
CONCLUSION:

Nicotine may play a significant role in the pathogenesis of cigarette smoking associated-periodontitis via the activation of COX-2 which is augmented by oxidative stress and mediated by extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase signaling.

Might still be an issue with the patches but probably much less so than with the oral delivery mechanism of nicotine gums.

Edited by aLurker, 16 May 2011 - 02:02 PM.

[What'sAllThisThen]

Hmmmm, I might have to take a snip of my girlfriend's patch and see what it does. I had heard of nicotine as a nootropic, but never looked into it nor knew motivation was an affect some were getting.

Which also brings up something I was wondering when I was with her buying patches. I noticed that the 21mg, 14mg and 7mg patches all cost the same. As such, I wondered if she could save money by just buying the 21mg and cutting them. So when I got home I looked it up and found mixed opinions. Some saying it would release the nicotine too fast (which seemed like a convenient "truth" for the patch company and I wasn't quite sure how much I believed it). Others saying they did it all the time.

However, there was also at least one that said cutting the patch was effective, but that the remaining piece(s) didn't work for him/her. I think I saw somewhere in this thread a mention of proper storing techniques though. It still makes me wonder though if some of the lowered efficacy that some may attribute to tolerance is perhaps to some degree due to the nicotine escaping the cut patches. I didn't look beyond a few forums since it was just curiosity as to whether my gf could save some money. So as far as I know it's not true.

Now I know that actual tolerance is undeniable, so it's clearly not just because of the old cut patches. But I'm wondering if you could get more than 2 weeks efficacy if each patch were fresh. Expensive experiment and perhaps you already have some experience that would lead you to negate the hypothesis right away. Just got me thinking is all.