. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Feb 21.

Published in final edited form as: Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2010 Aug 10;212(4):485–499. doi: 10.1007/s00213-010-1970-0

Table 5.

Effects of propranolol on somatic nicotine withdrawal signs.

Propranolol (mg/kg)		vehicle	2.5	5	10
Abd. const.	Saline	0.0 ± 0.0⁺⁺	0.0 ± 0.0⁺⁺	0.0 ± 0.0⁺⁺	0.1 ± 0.1⁺⁺
Abd. const.	Nicotine	7.4 ± 2.1	9.8 ± 2.0	9.2 ± 2.4	7.0 ± 2.2
Eye blinks	Saline	6.9 ± 1.1⁺⁺	6.6 ± 1.1⁺⁺	7.3 ± 1.3⁺⁺	5.5 ± 0.7
Eye blinks	Nicotine	25.0 ± 2.9	18.0 ± 2.0*	21.0 ± 2.9	12.0 ± 3.8*
Ptosis	Saline	0.8 ± 0.5	0.6 ± 0.3	0.0 ± 0.0	2.1 ± 0.9
Ptosis	Nicotine	5.4 ± 1.0	6.2 ± 1.2	5.1 ± 1.0	6.5 ± 1.3
Facial fasc.	Saline	0.1 ± 0.1⁺⁺	0.0 ± 0.0⁺⁺	0.0 ± 0.0⁺⁺	0.0 ± 0.0⁺
Facial fasc.	Nicotine	5.8 ± 1.5	4.4 ± 1.0	3.7 ± 1.4	3.1 ± 1.3
Yawns	Saline	0.8 ± 0.8	0.5 ± 0.4	0.0 ± 0.0	0.3 ± 0.2
Yawns	Nicotine	1.0 ± 0.7	0.4 ± 0.3	0.2 ± 0.2	1.1 ± 0.7
Shakes	Saline	0.4 ± 0.3⁺⁺	0.5 ± 0.4	0.1 ± 0.1⁺⁺	0.1 ± 0.1
Shakes	Nicotine	3.7 ± 1.0	1.0 ± 0.4*	2.1 ± 0.4	0.9 ± 0.4
Other signs	Saline	0.4 ± 0.2	0.0 ± 0.0	0.1 ± 0.1	0.0 ± 0.0
Other signs	Nicotine	0.7 ± 0.4	0.4 ± 0.3	1.0 ± 0.5	0.4 ± 0.3

Somatic signs in nicotine-treated (n = 10) and saline-treated rats (n = 8) as recorded during 10-minute observation periods. Abdominal constrictions include gasps and writhes; facial fasciculations include cheek tremors and teeth chattering; shakes include head shakes and body shakes; other signs include escape attempts and genital licks.

Plus signs (+ P<0.05, ++ P<0.01) indicate fewer somatic signs in the saline group than in the nicotine group.

Asterisks (* P<0.05, ** P<0.01) indicate a decrease in the number of somatic signs compared to rats in the same treatment group (nicotine) and acutely treated with vehicle. Data are expressed as means ± SEM.