Trial reportDrug and alcohol dependence2012
Cognitive effects of the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, donepezil, in healthy, non-treatment seeking smokers: a pilot feasibility study.
Trial report in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Ginkgo Biloba as a niche theme cognitive enhancer agent, 1420 dokumen of Scopus database. A bibliometric study from 1988 to 2024.F1000Research · 2025Article
- Cholinergic system adaptations are associated with cognitive function in people recently abstinent from smoking: a (-)-[Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Article
- Effect of Huperzine A on Cognitive Function and Perception of Effort during Exercise: A Randomized Double-Blind Crossover Trial.International journal of exercise science · 2021Article
- More than Smoke and Patches: The Quest for Pharmacotherapies to Treat Tobacco Use Disorder.Pharmacological reviews · 2020Review
- The Role of Cognitive Control in the Self-Regulation and Reinforcement of Smoking Behavior.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2019Review
- Variations in Acetylcholinesterase Activity within Human Cortical Pyramidal Neurons Across Age and Cognitive Trajectories.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2018Article
- Cognitive Effects of Nicotine: Recent Progress.Current neuropharmacology · 2018Review
- Repeated administration of an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor attenuates nicotine taking in rats and smoking behavior in human smokers.Translational psychiatry · 2016Article
- Donepezil reverses nicotine withdrawal-induced deficits in contextual fear conditioning in C57BL/6J mice.Behavioral neuroscience · 2014Article
- Donepezil, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, attenuates nicotine self-administration and reinstatement of nicotine seeking in rats.Addiction biology · 2014Article
- Optimizing treatments for nicotine dependence by increasing cognitive performance during withdrawal.Expert opinion on drug discovery · 2014Review
- Cognitive function during nicotine withdrawal: Implications for nicotine dependence treatment.Neuropharmacology · 2014Review
- Effects of bupropion on cognitive performance during initial tobacco abstinence.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere is a need to identify medications to aid in smoking cessation. Reducing withdrawal-related cognitive deficits represents a pharmacological target for new pharmacotherapies. Endogenous acetylcholine levels, which are modulated by acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs), play an important role in smoking behavior and cognition. This pilot feasibility study tested whether an AChEI, donepezil, enhanced cognitive performance among healthy smokers.
methodsEighteen non-treatment seeking daily smokers (6 female) received either donepezil (5 mg q.d) or placebo (double-blind; 2:1 allocation ratio) for 4 weeks. Smoking rate, side effects, and neurocognitive measures of working memory (Letter-N-back) and sustained attention (Penn Continuous Performance Task) were assessed weekly.
resultsFor the working memory task, there was a significant group×load×time interaction (p=0.03) indicating that the donepezil group demonstrated an increase in true positives from baseline to week 4 at the highest working memory load (3-back). The placebo group showed no change in accuracy. For the sustained attention task, there was a marginal effect in the same direction for discriminability, or d', p=0.08. There were no significant effects on reaction time during either task. There was also a reduction in cigarettes per day in the placebo group, but not the donepezil group.
conclusionsAChEIs, such as donepezil, may have pro-cognitive effects among healthy smokers while they continue to smoke as usual. Given the association between cognitive deficits and relapse, AChEIs should be explored as potential therapeutics for smoking cessation.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.