People smoke tobacco to obtain nicotine. They smoke cigarettes, cigars, and pipes; they chew tobacco, and some inhale tobacco as snuff. In the last decade an increasing number of tobacco users have turned to tobacco substitute products such as the Swedish snus, which deliver nicotine orally in a form that is advertised as being safer than a cigarette. Nicotine from tobacco products is absorbed into the blood through the lungs, and across nasal and buccal mucosa. All of these products activate orosensory pathways, and users often rate satisfaction using terms such as tastes good. Relatively little is known about those factors that influence the taste and palatability of tobacco/nicotine in humans, but researchers using animal models have made progress in this area using oral self-administration procedures. This review will attempt to provide a critical synopsis of the animal model oral nicotine self-administration literature along with recommendations for further research in this area. As suggested by Levin et al. It may be that consumptive acts are a very important aspect of tobacco addiction and that the consummatory motor acts that are involved in feeding are drafted into the service of drug self-administration in the process of tobacco addiction.

Oral Nicotine Self-Administration in Rodents

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