Effects of Nicotine Replacement and Repeated Cue Exposure on Cigarette Craving

Nicotine dependence is an important public health problem that contributes to significant morbidity and mortality in our society. Treatment efforts are hampered by high relapse rates, despite the development of somewhat effective treatment modalities, such as Nicotine Replacement Treatment (NRT). NRT, e.g. the nicotine patch, is successful in smoking cessation, compensating for nicotine withdrawal after quitting smoking.

However, relapse rates remain high even in quitters on the patch. It is thought that cravings related to smoking cues contribute to relapse in smokers on the patch who try to quit. Rational treatment approaches for nicotine dependence therefore include strategies to weaken the effect of smoking cues, e.g. cue extinction training (CET). During CET smokers are repeatedly exposed to smoking cues, in the absence of nicotine administration, and smokers report lessening of cue-induced craving (extinction). It is thought that the extinction of smoking cues will result in less control of the smoking cue over smoking behavior and lower relapse rates.

The investigators hypothesize that smoking quit rates on the patch will be higher after CET. To address our hypothesis the investigators first want to develop a proof of concept procedure that demonstrates that repeated cue exposure in the laboratory results in the lessening or 'extinction' of cue-induced craving. In addition, the investigators are interested in the contribution of nicotine withdrawal to cue-induced craving. To this end, the investigators propose to include a control group without nicotine replacement (i.e. placebo patch) that will also undergo the repeated cue exposure procedure.

This study will assess the effect of CET on subsequent craving triggered by smoking cues in cigarette-smoking volunteers. After overnight abstinence, participants will come into the lab, receive a patch (nicotine or placebo) and undergo the CET procedure and perform computer tests and fill out questionnaires.

The main goal of this project is to study the relationship between nicotine replacement, cue-extinction training and subsequent cue-induced craving. Showing the effectiveness of cue-extinction training in the proposed laboratory model will support the application of the cue-extinction procedure to improve relapse rates of nicotine replacement therapies in future clinical trials.