Nicotinic receptor blockade therapy and smoking cessation.

Smoking is a behaviour with a significant conditioned component. Attempts to quit will likely fail unless the effects of primary and secondary reinforcers are extinguished. Current smoking cessation methods scarcely address this issue, which may explain why they meet with little success in the long term. In contrast, the administration of centrally-active nicotinic receptor antagonists should provide a means of extinguishing both primary and secondary reinforcers associated with smoking. Thus, nicotine blockade therapy presents a promising new approach to smoking cessation.