Addicted to smoking from your first puff?  Blame it on a chemical pathway in your brain.

Researchers at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry have discovered differences in brains that explain why some individuals become addicted to tobacco with their first cigarette while others are initially sickened by the experience.

It comes down to one brain pathway that uses dopamine, a neurotransmitter, to transmit signals related to the rewarding properties of nicotine.

Working with animals, the University of Western Ontario scientists found they were able to manipulate specific dopamine receptors in the brain to control whether nicotine was rewarding or aversive.

The work was published today in the Journal of Neuroscience.

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