Intra-luminal nicotine reduces smooth muscle tone and contractile activity in the distal large bowel.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide), published as a randomized controlled trial.

To examine the effect of a solution of nicotine on sustained resting pressure (tone) and contractile activity in the human colon.

Why It Was Studied

Nicotine may be of therapeutic value in ulcerative colitis (UC), although its mechanism of action has not been established.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 17 subjects were involved.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

Ten healthy volunteers, and seven with UC in symptomatic remission took part; all were non-smokers.

All 17 subjects were given nicotine or placebo solution on two separate occasions in a randomized sequence.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized and placebo-controlled study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) could be set against what happens without it.

A water-perfused manometry catheter, with openings at 5, 10 and 15 cm from the tip, was placed by rigid sigmoidoscopy in the recto-sigmoid region.

Observations were made over the subsequent 15-20 min.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Colitis, Ulcerative, Colon, Cotinine, Enema, Gastrointestinal Motility, Muscle Contraction and Muscle Tonus.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and placebo-controlled study of Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) in 17 subjects.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 6 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 1999 (European journal of gastroenterology & hepatology), a journal based in England.

More context: the Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) compound page, all human trials.