This nicotine-eating bacteria may help smokers to quit smoking

People who smoke know that smoking is bad for health, but most of them are difficult to stop. To make it easier, the scientists took a novel approach, they switch to micro-organisms which thrive on nicotine.

In a scientific journal published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, scientists describe a successful test on the enzyme decrease nicotine from a soil bacterium called Pseudomonas putida.

Dr Janda’s team analyzed a nicotine-degrading enzyme, NicA2. (Picture from: http://bit.ly/1Nko1My)

Nicotine is one of the harmful content of cigarettes to be attached to the lungs. Nicotine can damage cells in the lungs and adversely affect other organs.

Smokers who want to quit can switch to different pharmacological assistance. Including the release of nicotine candies and other products designed to replace cigarettes, and drugs which absorb nicotine in the body to prevent it from reaching the brain, but addictivity will continue.

But the success rate of this option is low. Only 15 to 30% of smokers who try it are able to quit smoking for more than one year.

Dr. Kim Janda of the Scripps Research Institute and his colleagues tried a new angle. They use an enzyme called NicA2 derived from Pseudomonas putida, a bacterium that is known to degrade the waste of tobacco.

In their experiments, NicA2, proteins containing flavin, managed to ruin all of nicotine in the blood samples within 30 minutes.

It also remained stable for more than three weeks in a buffer solution, at least three days in serum. Rats were given the enzyme did not show any side effects.

"We have done the enzyme kinetic profiles and have found that NicA2 has many qualities necessary for the utilization of smoking cessation therapy, or nicotine poisoning," said Dr. Janda. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | SCI-NEWS.COM]

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