A NOVEL EFFECT OF NICOTINE ON MOOD AND SLEEP IN MAJOR DEPRESSION

THE role of repeated nicotine administration on sleep and major depres sion was studied. Six non-smoking normal volunteers (NV) and six non-s moking major depressed patients (MD) with a Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression > 18 served as subjects. All subjects underwent the followi ng sleep procedures: acclimatization, control night, four nicotine nig hts (17.5 mg, transdermal patches) and one withdrawal night (WN). Nico tine increased REM sleep time in both groups and also on the WN. Hamil ton scores showed an average reduction of 43.9% in the depressed patie nts. These findings suggest that nicotine receptor activation may be i mportant in major depression and shows for the first time that nicotin e patches may be useful in the treatment of depression.