Smoking can cause permanent damage to adolescent’s developing brains so they are less able to concentrate, according to research at the VU University in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Tobacco smoking and nicotine exposure during adolescence interfere with prefrontal cortex (PFC) development and lead to cognitive impairments in later life. The molecular and cellular underpinnings of these consequences remain elusive. The researchers found that adolescent nicotine exposure induced lasting attentional disturbances and reduced mGluR2 protein and function on presynaptic terminals of PFC glutamatergic synapses.
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