UTEP awarded $2.5 M NIH grant to study nicotine dependence in women

EL PASO, Texas (Aug. 15, 2024) — Researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso will undertake a new study that could lead to improved nicotine cessation treatments for women. The work is supported by a new $2.5 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Principal investigator Laura O’Dell, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Psychology at UTEP, will lead the multidisciplinary study into how stress produced by nicotine withdrawal is intensified by variations in ovarian hormones in women.

The study is a response to rising rates of usage of e-cigarettes, also known as vaping, among young people, particularly adolescent females, in the U.S., O’Dell said. In its 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 2.1 million middle and high school students were current users of vaping products. The survey also found that more female students use these products compared to males.

“Despite how nicotine is consumed, this drug is known to have adverse effects on brain development and proper regulation of hormone levels in females, so we are addressing an important public health problem,” said O’Dell. “The results of this research are expected to contribute meaningfully to the development of more effective therapeutics for nicotine cessation for women, who are at greater risk for experiencing the adverse consequences of long-term nicotine use.”

The project, which builds on O’Dell’s prior work on substance dependence, will examine a particular brain pathway that regulates certain aversive behaviors and emotions — the habenula-interpeduncular nucleus pathway — that is believed to modulate withdrawal symptoms from chronic nicotine vapor inhalation.

The results of this research project may help explain the causes behind the greater anxiety-like behavior experienced by females during abstinence from nicotine, O’Dell said. The research will also investigate the contribution of ovarian hormones, specifically estrogen and progesterone, in enhancing the severity of withdrawal symptoms in women.

“This study has the potential to significantly impact future treatment strategies for nicotine dependence,” said Anadeli Bencomo, Ph.D., dean of the College of Liberal Arts, which is home to the Department of Psychology. “I congratulate Dr. O’Dell and her team for receiving this grant. This type of research benefits the entire UTEP community because it demonstrates that this is a place where science of the highest level is practiced.”

Another important aspect of the study is student involvement. The grant will provide stipends to four graduate students throughout its five-year duration. Several undergraduate students will also participate in the project thanks to UTEP programs that support undergraduate research.

Co-principal investigators on the grant are Luis M. Carcoba, M.D., Ph.D., a research assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, Arshad Khan, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, and Ian Mendez, Ph.D., an associate professor in the School of Pharmacy,

About The University of Texas at El Paso 

The University of Texas at El Paso is America’s leading Hispanic-serving university. Located at the westernmost tip of Texas, where three states and two countries converge along the Rio Grande, 84% of our 24,000 students are Hispanic, and more than half are the first in their families to go to college. UTEP offers 170 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs at the only open-access, top-tier research university in America.