Pseudomonas putida bacteria (Photo : lookfordiagnosis)
A scientific team is developing a new anti-smoking treatment that is based on a "Pac-Man" bacterial enzyme that eats nicotine before it gets to the human brain. The chemical substances in the therapy can be produced in a lab, and could be used to develop new medications to treat smoking addiction.
The study's findings were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. It was conducted by researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in La Jolla, California.
Kim Janda said that the research is in the first stages of drug development. However, it is showing the right properties indicating that it could later be used in anti-smoking therapy.
Janda and his team have been working 30 years in labs to create the enzyme. However, they found the missing puzzle piece from a tobacco field's soil.
The scietists discovered Pseudomonas putida, a bacterium living in the dirt. It only gets nitrogen and carbon from the nicotine it eats, according to Medical News Today.
The microbes use the enzyme NicA2 to consume nicotine. They do it like "a little Pac-Man."
Janda's team hopes to develop an enzyme therapy that combats smoking addiction better than current medications on the market. They fail in at least 80 to 90 percent of smokers.
Such treatment would zap nicotine before it gets to the brain. That would prevent the "kick" or "buzz" that the substance gives smokers.
After testing the enzyme scientists discovered that it greatly cuts the time nicotine stays in a person's bloodstream. They ran experiments using serum (yellow watery substance) from mice's blood.
Researchers combined the serum and nicotine equal to one cigarette. Then they added the enzyme to the serum-nicotine mixture.
Nicotine levels dropped 50 percent in just 9 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, it took 2 to 3 hours without the substance.
Dr. Janda said that by tweaking the enzyme they can reduce nicotine's half-life even more. Then it would be unable to get to the brain and provide a "reward," according to Medical Daily.
There is more work to do. Lead author Song Xue said that the serum's stability must be improved so one injection could last for up to one month.
