ArticlePsychopharmacology2016
Enhancing effect of menthol on nicotine self-administration in rats.
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
54 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 71 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Role of Nicotine and Flavor in the Abuse Potential and Appeal of Electronic Cigarettes for Adult Current and Former Cigarette and Electronic Cigarette Users: A Systematic Review.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2022Pooled it
- The effects of inhaled flavors on intravenous nicotine.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2021Trial
- Acute effects of inhaled menthol on cognitive effects of intravenous nicotine among young adult cigarette smokers.Addictive behaviors · 2021Trial
- Acute effects of inhaled menthol on the rewarding effects of intravenous nicotine in smokers.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2018Trial
- Synthetic cooling agents enhance nicotine reinforcement and mesolimbic dopamine signaling.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- β-Nicotyrine and e-cigarette abuse liability II: Behavioral economic demand and intracranial self-stimulation in rats.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2026Article
- Contraceptive hormone ethinyl estradiol but not levonorgestrel modulates the role of reinforcer-enhancement in nicotine self-administration in ovary-intact female Sprague-Dawley rats.Neuropharmacology · 2025Article
- Menthol Cigarette Use in US Pregnancies: Prevalence, Racial and Ethnic Disparities, and Associated Characteristics from the 2010-2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2025Article
- Impact of chemical flavorants on reinforcement-related behavior in an adolescent mouse model of vaping self-administration.The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2025Article
- Reinforcement and MAO-A inhibition in heated tobacco products: flavor and brand variations.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Stimulus mediation, specificity and impact of menthol in rats trained to discriminate puffs of nicotine e-cigarette aerosol from nicotine-free aerosol.Psychopharmacology · 2024Article
- The Impact of High or Low Doses of Nicotine in a Mouse Model of Vapor Self-Administration.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2024Article
- Testing hypotheses about the harm that capitalism causes to the mind and brain: a theoretical framework for neuroscience research.Frontiers in sociology · 2023Review
- Beyond the label: current evidence and future directions for the interrelationship between electronic cigarettes and mental health.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Review
- Investigating sex differences and the effect of drug exposure order in the sensory reward-enhancing effects of nicotine and d-amphetamine alone and in combination.Neuropharmacology · 2022Article
- Chemosensory Contributions of E-Cigarette Additives on Nicotine Use.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Review
- Review of industry reports on EU priority tobacco additives part A: Main outcomes and conclusions.Tobacco prevention & cessation · 2022Review
- Animal Models to Investigate the Impact of Flavors on Nicotine Addiction and Dependence.Current neuropharmacology · 2022Review
- Plasma Menthol Glucuronide as a Biomarker for the Behavioral Effects of Menthol and Nicotine in Humans.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- Differences in Cognitive Task Performance, Reinforcement Enhancement, and Nicotine Dependence Between Menthol and Nonmenthol Cigarette Smokers.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleTobacco smoking is a leading preventable cause of premature death in the USA. Menthol is a significant flavoring additive in tobacco products. Clinical evidence suggests that menthol may promote tobacco smoking and nicotine dependence. However, it is unclear whether menthol enhances the reinforcing actions of nicotine and thus facilitates nicotine consumption. This study employed a rat model of nicotine self-administration to examine the effects of menthol on nicotine-taking behavior.
methodsMale Sprague-Dawley rats were trained in daily 1-h sessions to press a lever for intravenous nicotine self-administration under a fixed-ratio 5 schedule of reinforcement. In separate groups, rats self-administered nicotine at four different doses (0.0075, 0.015, 0.03, and 0.06 mg/kg/infusion). Five minutes prior to the two test sessions, menthol (5 mg/kg) or its vehicle was administered intraperitoneally in all rats in a counterbalanced design within each group. In separate rats that self-administered 0.015 mg/kg/infusion nicotine, menthol dose-response function was determined. Menthol was also tested on food self-administration.
resultsAn inverted U-shaped nicotine dose-response curve was observed. Menthol pretreatment shifted the nicotine dose-response curve to the left. The facilitating effect of menthol on the self-administration of 0.015 mg/kg/infusion nicotine was dose-dependent, whereas it produced similar effects at doses above the threshold of 2.5 mg/kg. Menthol tended to suppress the self-administration of food pellets.
conclusionsThese data demonstrate that menthol enhances the reinforcing effects of nicotine, and the effect of menthol was specific to nicotine. The findings suggest that menthol directly facilitates nicotine consumption, thereby contributing to tobacco smoking.
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Registered trials
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.