Bidirectional relationship between attentional deficits and escalation of nicotine intake in male rats.

We found that pre-existing individual variation in attentional performance predicts individual vulnerability to develop escalation of nicotine intake. Moreover, while chronic nicotine self-administration increases attention, withdrawal from nicotine intake escalation induces attentional deficits, a withdrawal effect that is dose-dependently reversed by acute nicotine. Together, these results suggest that pre-existing individual variation in attentional performance predicts individual vulnerability to develop escalation of nicotine intake, and that part of the motivation for using nicotine during escalation might be to alleviate withdrawal-induced attentional deficits.