The nicotine
patch designed to help smokers give up tobacco also helps relieve Tourette's
syndrome tics in children and adolescents, University of South Florida
researchers reported.
"Not only was
the nicotine patch effective, but a much smaller dose of the medication
haloperidol could be given," said co-investigator Dr. Archie Silver, professor
of psychiatry at the USF College of Medicine in Tampa. "That's especially
important when treating children and adolescents."
Doctors treat
Tourette's with Haldol (haloperidol), controlling symptoms but usually
causing physical and mental lethargy.
The study is
published in the September issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
The researchers
gave Haldol and a daily 7-milligram nicotine patch to 35 of 70 subjects.
The other 35 subjects received Haldol and a patch with no nicotine. The
subjects were ages 8 to 18.
Skin absorbs
nicotine from the patch and it reaches its maximum level in the blood in
about three hours.
The study found
the frequency and severity of tics declined for those with nicotine patches.
Even when the Haldol dosage was cut in half, thereby reducing lethargy,
the nicotine patch group had fewer symptoms than the control group, which
continued to receive Haldol at the higher dosage.
Two weeks after
the patches were removed, the nicotine patch subjects continued to have
better symptom control than the other group, even with reduced Haldol.
"Certain brain
receptors seem to be involved in several neurological conditions, including
Tourette's," lead investigator Dr. Paul Sanberg, professor of neurosurgery
at the USF told UPI. "When you flood these receptors with nicotine, the
receptors inactivate.
The net effect
of using nicotine in our study was to shut down the receptors and blocking
symptoms of Tourette's. Other studies have shown similar results with depression.
So now we are looking for nicotine substitutes that could target specific
neurological disorders and have less side effects than the patches."
"This is an
important area of research," Dr. Neal Swerdlow, professor of psychiatry
at the University of California School of Medicine in San Diego told UPI.
"But we won't know what this particular study means until we have had an
opportunity to examine the study in depth and, ultimately, to replicate
its findings. Raising hopes beyond that at this time with a population
so desperate for hope just doesn't seem very wise."
The nicotine
patch subjects reported side effects of nausea and dizziness.
"This study
is important because it focuses attention on a nicotine receptor system
in the brain that has been underemphasized in neuro-developmental disorders
of childhood until now," Silver said.
"A recent study
suggests that another drug called mecamylamine (Inversine) can help patients
with depression, aggressive behaviors, anxiety or Tourette's syndrome.
We need to see if mecamylamine will work like nicotine is raising Haldol's
potency for Tourette's and without the side effects," Sanberg said.
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