Table 1.
Summary of inside-out and outside-in signaling during smoking
Outside-in: Activated nAChRs in the plasma membraneInside-out: Chaperoned nAChRs in the ER
Nominal cellular effects Na+ and Ca2+ influx, increased neuronal excitability, calcium signaling, nAChR desensitization Stabilization of α4β2 subunit combinations, increased nAChR in the plasma membrane, biased subunit composition 
EC50 for effect 0.3 – 4 µMa (Buisson et al., 1996; Gopalakrishnan et al., 1997; Pacheco et al., 2001; Kuryatov et al., 2005) 30 nM (Kuryatov et al., 2005) 
Fraction average activation for a typical smoking habitb 0.1 0.7 
Hypothesized organismal effects Sense of well-being, cognitive boost, appetite suppression, increased tolerance of stressful stimuli, suppression of withdrawal (Miwa et al., 2011; Naudé et al., 2015; Nees, 2015; Picciotto et al., 2015) Early events of nicotine dependence (Govind et al., 2009; Henderson and Lester, 2015) 
Timescale of organismal effects Minutes Days to weeks 
Outside-in: Activated nAChRs in the plasma membraneInside-out: Chaperoned nAChRs in the ER
Nominal cellular effects Na+ and Ca2+ influx, increased neuronal excitability, calcium signaling, nAChR desensitization Stabilization of α4β2 subunit combinations, increased nAChR in the plasma membrane, biased subunit composition 
EC50 for effect 0.3 – 4 µMa (Buisson et al., 1996; Gopalakrishnan et al., 1997; Pacheco et al., 2001; Kuryatov et al., 2005) 30 nM (Kuryatov et al., 2005) 
Fraction average activation for a typical smoking habitb 0.1 0.7 
Hypothesized organismal effects Sense of well-being, cognitive boost, appetite suppression, increased tolerance of stressful stimuli, suppression of withdrawal (Miwa et al., 2011; Naudé et al., 2015; Nees, 2015; Picciotto et al., 2015) Early events of nicotine dependence (Govind et al., 2009; Henderson and Lester, 2015) 
Timescale of organismal effects Minutes Days to weeks 
a

Dependent on subunit composition and assay.

b

1 cigarette/hour for 12 h leads to ∼100 nM sustained nicotine concentration.

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