# Assessing the effects of adolescent nicotine vapor exposure on motivation and decision for rewards

> **NIH NIH SC2** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS EL PASO · 2020 · $120,000

## Abstract

Project Summary
A lack of information, along with targeted advertising, addition of palatable flavors, and misconceptions about
their safety has led to a dramatic increase in the use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (e-cigarettes), with
sales of e-cigarettes rising from $20 million in 2008 to $1.5 billion in 2014. In adolescents, continuing annual
increases in e-cigarette use have been particularly high and e-cigarette use has now surpassed that of traditional
cigarettes within this population. The neurobiology of the adolescent brain produces a behavioral phenotype
that increases reward-seeking behavior and makes them engage in more impulsive and risky behaviors,
including experimental drug use. These findings warrant a critical need for more research on the effects of
nicotine vapor exposure on adolescent health, including its effects on the malleable adolescent brain and the
behavior that it controls. We posit that adolescent exposure to nicotine vapor results in long-term dramatic
changes in reward seeking behaviors. Based on the results of a limited number of studies investigating the
effects of nicotine on decision making and cue-induced motivation for rewards, we predicted that repeated
exposure to nicotine vapor will cause a significant and persist increases in impulsive choice, decreases in risky
choice, and decreases in cue-induced potentiation of reward seeking behavior, in both male and female rats.
Additionally, we expect that specific nicotinic receptor subtypes, particularly within the striatum, will predict
reward choice and motivation. We will test these predictions using cost-benefit decision making and Pavlovian-
to-instrumental transfer tests with food pellets as the reward. The goal of this research is to determine if
exposure to nicotine vapor during adolescence causes significant long-term changes in impulsive or risky choice
(Aim 1a) or long-term changes in the ability of reward paired cues to invigorate reward seeking behavior (Aim
1b). Additionally, relationships between reward motivation or reward choice and nicotinic α4β2 receptor levels
in the brains of rats, with and without a history or adolescent nicotine vapor exposure, will be determined (Aim
2). This research will provide immediate and much needed information about this rising and potentially
devastating addictive trend, commonly observed in adolescents.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10172762
- **Project number:** 3SC2DA052119-01S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS EL PASO
- **Principal Investigator:** Ian Alfredo Mendez
- **Activity code:** SC2 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $120,000
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10172762

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10172762, Assessing the effects of adolescent nicotine vapor exposure on motivation and decision for rewards (3SC2DA052119-01S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10172762. Licensed CC0.

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