Question

George goes outside and smokes an entire pack of cigarettes. Smoking this much increased the amount of nicotine in his blood to a high level, and because nicotine is an agonist for nicotinic receptors , activates them throughout his body. Describe the effects that he would have?

Answer 1

Smoking a pack of cigarettes increases nicotine levels in the blood, which stimulates autonomic ganglia and affects the cardiovascular system by increasing blood pressure and potentially causing arrhythmias.

Step-by-step explanation:

When George smokes an entire pack of cigarettes, the high levels of nicotine in his blood act as an agonist for nicotinic receptors, activating them throughout his body. This affects the autonomic system, particularly impacting the cardiovascular system.

Nicotine stimulates both sympathetic and parasympathetic ganglia at the preganglionic fiber synapse. This results in an increase in blood pressure due to the dominance of sympathetic influence and may cause arrhythmias because cardiac muscle is modulated, not just activated or inhibited. In addition, nicotine increases the activity of dopaminergic neurons in the brain's reward system, leading to the addictive nature of smoking.