Tobacco causes 20% of the rate death in the industrialized countries. We have
decided to study nicotine, its active agent, in order to learn more about it.
This site has been done in the framework of a bibliographic project.
Nicotine is an alkaloid of the family of nicotianae contained in the
leaves of several plants species, like tobacco leaves.
Its harmful effects are well known: nicotine is involved in lung cancer, it
increases blood pressure, causes distress on the respiratory system and on the
digestive system.
But nicotine also has positive effects: it is a pain reliever, it lowers
anxiety levels but overall it may protect the cells of the nervous system from
certain types of degenerative diseases and thus it may have beneficial effects
for the symptomatic treatment of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.