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Biomedical subjects

K Bättig

Publications and source records attributed to K Bättig.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

Development of central and peripheral smoking effects over time.

The present study compared for the first morning cigarettes CO and nicotine absorption as well as the effects on EEG and peripheral functions across a period of 90 min. Eighteen smokers participated in two sessions, one in which they smoked two cigarettes in succession and another in which they smoked three cigarettes at 30-min intervals. Smoking two cigarettes in succession produced a particularly wide range in nicotine absorption so that the subjects could be grouped into high (HN) and low (LN) nicotine absorbers, differing significantly in their CO and nicotine absorption. The smoking-induced cardioacceleration was greater and lasted longer in the HN than in the LN group. While the dominant alpha frequency increased to a significant extent in the HN group only, beta power increased in both groups, alpha power remained unaffected, theta power decreased in the HN group only and the effects on heart rate, dominant alpha frequency and beta power were significantly correlated with nicotine absorption across both groups. Smoking three cigarettes at 30-min intervals produced qualitatively similar but generally smaller effects. However, neither nicotine uptake nor any of the physiological parameters showed differential developments between the two groups, except the dominant alpha frequency, which increased in the HN group only. The development of acute tolerance to smoking across three cigarettes was observed only for finger vasoconstriction, craving to smoke and sickness after smoking, but not for cardioacceleration or any EEG parameters.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Acute effects of nicotine injection into the nucleus accumbens on locomotor activity in nicotine-naive and nicotine-tolerant rats.

To assess the role of nicotine receptors in the nucleus accumbens on locomotor activity we bilaterally implanted guide cannulae for later injection of (-)-nicotine into the nucleus accumbens of Wistar rats. Motor activity was tested in a complex tunnel maze equipped with photocells for automatic recording. This system of dark tunnels elicits spontaneous exploration even after repeated exposure. Half of the rats were made nicotine-tolerant by daily systemic injections of (-)-nicotine for 15 days (nicotine pretreatment); the other half remained nicotine-naive (saline pretreatment). Whereas (-)-nicotine (40 nmol/0.3 microliter) bilaterally injected into the nucleus accumbens of nicotine-naive animals suppressed locomotor activity, the same amount injected into the nucleus accumbens of nicotine-tolerant rats had no effect on locomotor activity. Systemic injections of nicotine (0.4 mg/kg) induced a depression and stimulation of locomotor activity in saline-pretreated and nicotine-pretreated rats, respectively. Our results support a dual role for nicotine in locomotor activity with the initial depressant effect in nicotine-naive animals due to stimulation of the nucleus accumbens and perhaps other structures.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Can smoking increase attention in rapid information processing during noise? Electrocortical, physiological and behavioral effects.

This study investigated the effects of smoking on subject-paced visual rapid information processing performance (RIP) under the influence of disturbing noise. The RIP task required the subjects to detect triads of even or odd digits within a pseudorandom sequence of single digits presented on a screen. Two groups of 12 female habitual smokers who were not allowed to smoke during the last 10 h preceding the test sessions underwent two test sessions each consisting of two RIP trials separated by a smoking period (habitual cigarette) for one group and by a relaxation period without smoking for the second group. Noise disturbance was presented during the second RIP trial of one of the two sessions only. Smoking increased RIP performance, but noise failed to show any measurable effect. EEG analyzed during RIP revealed the expected noise-induced decrease in alpha power. ERP analyses showed a smoking-induced decrease in the CNV-related negativity but no noise effects. The late positive wave (LP) increased after smoking, but to a lesser extent under the noise condition. The analyses of peripheral physiological measures revealed smoking- and noise-induced heart rate acceleration and cutaneous vasoconstriction. Plasma cortisol, prolactin and HGH were also increased after the noise session. The results indicate therefore that smoking increased RIP, whereas noise failed to affect mental performance, although it produced measurable vegetative stress effects.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Separate and combined psychophysiological effects of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption.

The present study on the separate and the combined effects of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption on behavioral, electrocortical and cardiovascular functions involved 20 young female smokers, repeatedly tested on their performance in a visual information processing task before and after drug treatment. Each subject participated in four sessions where they received in a balanced sequence 0.7 g/kg alcohol or placebo followed by either real or sham smoking of a cigarette. The mental task required the subjects to detect sequences of three odd or even digits in a pseudorandom series of single digits presented on a TV screen. By using a variable subject-paced interstimulus interval, mental performance was analyzed continuously in terms of the achieved processing rate. The multivariate assessment of psychophysiological functions included the electrocardiogram, the finger plethysmogram and the electroencephalogram (EEG) measured on four electrode locations (Fz, Cz, P3, P4). The EEG was analyzed both for tonical changes in frequency distribution and for phasic responses to the correctly detected triads (Event-Related Potentials, ERP), yielding a CNV after the second digit and a late positive wave (LP) after the third digit. Cigarette smoking increased the processing rate, while it was decreased by alcohol. Smoking after alcohol diminished the performance decline due to alcohol. Heart rate acceleration and peripheral vasoconstriction were observed after smoking. Alcohol caused dilatation of the finger vessels which was prevented by smoking a cigarette after the drink.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Separate effects of cigarette smoke yield and smoke taste on smoking behavior.

The purpose of this experiment was to compare independently the influence of different cigarette smoke taste categories and different machine standard smoke yield values on cigarette smoking behavior and related subjective measures. In six separate sessions 15 regular smokers were presented with a medium and a low smoke yield cigarette of each of the three taste categories, mentholated, dark (Gauloises) and blond (Muratti) tobacco. Each session included a "natural" and a "forced" smoking procedure of one cigarette type only. Forced smoking consisted of smoking 30 puffs whereby a new half-length cigarette was presented after every third puff. During the seventh session, habitual brand cigarettes were smoked as a reference. The sessions followed in weekly intervals, and the subjects became familiar with the test cigarettes during the last 5 days preceding each test session. Although general acceptability of the cigarettes, smoking satisfaction and pleasantness of taste were clearly lower for all test cigarettes as opposed to the habitual brand reference cigarettes, these measures remained unaffected by taste or smoke yield of the test cigarettes. Harshness of smoke was higher in the dark tobacco category and generally decreased with the lower smoke yield cigarettes. Independent effects of taste and smoke yield were obtained for total puff volume, inhalation time and CO absorption, suggesting a compensatory intensification of smoking behavior for low yield cigarettes and an independent increase of smoking intensity from mentholated to dark tobacco to blond tobacco. The results suggest therefore that factors which affect cigarette smoke taste have effects on smoking behavior which are separate from those obtained by comparing smoke yields.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Postlunch smoking for pleasure seeking or arousal maintenance?

Interactions between smoking and eating might be expected, since the craving to smoke increases after a meal, since smokers tend to have a lower body weight and since they have also been suggested to differ from nonsmokers with respect to metabolism. Further, both eating and smoking have been reported to affect mental performance. In the first experiment the influences of a heavy meal, a light meal and no meal on smoking behavior and subjective ratings were compared in 15 subjects. Whereas puffing behavior was not affected by the meal conditions, craving and smoking enjoyment increased after the meals. In the second experiment the effects of smoking on postlunch performance and concomitant central and peripheral physiology were investigated. Postlunch smoking (compared to postlunch no smoking) distinctly showed the usual increases in heart rate, peripheral vasoconstriction and electrocortical arousal, but it failed to affect rapid information processing performance and its concomitant event-related EEG potentials as well as several indices of metabolic activity. It appears, thus, that under the conditions of the present experiments, pleasure seeking may be a more important factor in postmeal smoking than the effects on performance, EEG or metabolism.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Effects of ketamine on tunnel maze and water maze performance in the rat.

The NMDA receptor, which has been implicated in memory formation, is noncompetitively blocked by ketamine. The present study examines the effect of ketamine (0, 3, 6, 12, and 25 mg/kg body wt; ip) on tunnel maze and water maze performance in Wistar rats. In the hexagonal tunnel maze (HTM) high doses of ketamine (12 and 25 mg/kg) decreased locomotor activity. Moreover, ketamine induced perimeter walking (6, 12, and 25 mg/kg) and attenuated exploratory efficiency (25 mg/kg). When the HTM was converted into a modified six-arm radial maze, ketamine impaired short-term but not long-term memory. In the Morris water maze, rats injected with ketamine (12 and 25 mg/kg) acquired a spatial navigation task more slowly than controls. When the escape platform was removed, the drug-treated rats did not preferentially search for it in the area where the platform had been during the acquisition phase. However, when the escape platform was visible, no differences in the performance of ketamine-treated and control rats could be found. In summary, ketamine seems to attenuate some but not all forms of learning in the tunnel maze and it impairs the acquisition of a spatial navigation task.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Age-related changes in working and reference memory performance and locomotor activity in the Wistar rat.

Wistar rats of three age groups were tested in an automated tunnel-maze system of variable geometry to investigate whether changes in spontaneous locomotor activity and in learning and memory develop differentially or in a correlated fashion as a function of age. Senescent (30 months) as well as mature-adult (17 months) rats showed an age-correlated decline of locomotor activity as compared to the mature-young (5 months) group. Both working-memory (measured as within-trial arm discrimination performance) and reference-memory (measured as avoidance of "blind alley" visits) were severely affected in the senescent group, whereas the middle-aged animals suffered only from a working-memory deficit. The findings provide evidence that locomotor deficits do not necessarily interfere in the assessment of age-related changes in cognitive performance. Furthermore the results support the hypothesis that working and reference memory have different underlying physiological correlates and that these neuronal systems are differentially affected by the aging process.

Aging↗
PubMed1988

Effects of smoking on mental performance and vegetative functions in high and low CO absorbing smokers.

The present study investigated effects of smoking on mental performance and concomitant psychophysiological reactions in smokers differing in the strength of their habit. Toward this goal performance in two 30-min rapid information processing (RIP) trials separated by a 10-min smoking period was compared among preselected high and low CO absorbing smokers, nonsmokers, and smokers not allowed to smoke (n = 12 per group). Heart rate, finger pulse amplitude, and respiratory frequency were continuously recorded throughout the experimental sessions in order to assess physiological arousal and to estimate nicotine absorption through smoking. The RIP test consisted in the detection (button pressing) of triads of odd or even digits out of a series of single digits presented in a subject-paced manner on a screen in a pseudorandom sequence. Performance significantly increased from the first to the second trial in all groups, and this increase tended to be greater in both the high and low CO absorbers than in the two control groups. The similar development of RIP in the low and high CO absorbers is contrasted by differential vegetative responses to smoking. Smoking increased heart rate and respiratory frequency and produced peripheral vasoconstriction in the high CO absorbers only, suggesting the absorption of nicotine, whereas no nicotinic effects were noted in the low CO absorbers. The results are discussed in the light of the observed dissociation between psychological and physiological effects of smoking in the two groups of smokers, and the possibly differential role of nicotine for smoking motivation in the two groups.

Arousal↗
PubMed1988

Cardiovascular, electrocortical, and behavioral effects of nicotine chewing gum.

The cardiovascular, electrocortical, and behavioral effects of orally administered nicotine during rapid information processing were assessed in deprived female smokers. In a pre-post treatment design, 10 subjects received a 4-mg nicotine chewing gum and 10 subjects a placebo. The mental task required the subjects to watch single digits presented in a pseudorandom order on a screen and to press a button whenever the last three digits were either odd or even. The presentation rate decreased after each error and increased after each correct response and was used as the index of performance. Event-related brain potentials (ERP) to each of the three digits of the correctly answered triads were analyzed. The ERPs showed a distinct CNV potential for the second digit only (expectancy) and a P300 response for the third digit only (response decision). The mean EEG power spectrum was computed for each 5-min resting period, set before each trial and at the end of the session. A single administration of 4-mg nicotine chewing gum was followed by heart rate increase, acrodermal vasoconstriction, increase in theta and alpha frequency, decrease in delta power, and increase in the CNV magnitude. However, the chewing gum neither increased performance or reaction time nor decreased any ERP latencies or amplitudes, as has been reported after cigarette smoking.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Effects of smoking deprivation on smoking behavior and heart rate response in high and low CO absorbing smokers.

Short-term deprivation effects on smoking-induced heart rate response and smoking behavior were compared in consistently high and low CO absorbing smokers, suggested to depend differentially on smoking and/or nicotine. The subjects came to the laboratory for two afternoon sessions and smoked at 1 p.m. and at 5 p.m. both after previous free smoking and following afternoon or overnight-morning deprivation. Overnight-morning deprivation decreased presmoking heart rate in both groups similarly, but it increased heart rate response to smoking more in the high than low CO absorbers. Single cigarette tidal CO boosts concomitantly decreased in the high CO absorbers and remained at the habitually low level among the low CO absorbers. Afternoon deprivation had no effects on presmoking heart rate, presmoking tidal CO concentration and tidal CO boost, but increased the heart rate response to smoking in the high CO absorbers. Smoking need and satisfaction as well as puff volume and duration tended to increase after both deprivations slightly more among the high than low CO absorbers. These results are discussed in terms of a differential development of acute tolerance to nicotine in the two groups of smokers which dissipates during smoking abstinence periods.

Absorption↗
PubMed1987

Psychophysiological reactivity and speech behavior during the Structured Type A Interview and a self-disclosure monologue.

Speech characteristics and the simultaneously recorded psychophysiological reactivity were compared between two tape-recorded speech tests, the Structured Type A Interview (SI) and a standardized 'self-disclosure' monologue (SD) as a non-social speech test. The SD started with a 5-min mental preparation interval followed by 3 subsequent self-reports each lasting 1.5 min. The 26 students used as subjects showed in all cardiovascular parameters (interbeat interval, pulse transit time to the earlobe, finger plethysmographic amplitudes and blood pressure) strong and similar reactivity to both tests. The individual rankings of physiological reactivity turned out to be remarkably constant over all experimental periods, but this reactivity was neither correlated with the Type A scores nor with sex. Modest correlations between the SI and SD test were obtained for word rate, expiratory sighs, and silent latent pauses. Thereby, some speech variables tended to be affected by the Type A behavior, and, to a somewhat stronger extent, by sex. The desirability of a non-social speech test for assessing Type A behavior is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Rapid information processing and concomitant event-related brain potentials in smokers differing in CO absorption.

The present study relates subject-paced rapid information processing to different components of event-related brain potentials in an attempt to gain more information about changes in mental performance in relation to alveolar smoke absorption as assessed by expired air CO measurement. The task consisted in the presentation of pseudorandom sequences of single digits, and the subjects had to respond to each sequence of three odd or three even digits. The triplets evoked a typical late negativity in the event-related potential between the second and third digit as well as a P300 component following the third digit. In 21 smokers, task performance, event-related potentials and tidal air CO concentration were measured before and after smoking a cigarette. The results revealed increases in performance and P300 magnitude from pre- to postsmoking which were unaffected by the amount of CO absorption. A differential trend was seen, however, with the late negativity, which increased from pre- to postsmoking only in subjects with a large amount of CO absorption. The results support the assumption of the distraction arousal model used as an interpretation of these effects on contingent negative variation and suggest that high CO absorbing smokers possibly depend more on neuropharmacological effects of smoking than smokers with a low amount of CO absorption.

Adolescent↗