ACTH and cortisol after cigarette smoke exposure during the dexamethasone suppression test in smokers and non-smokers

In this research the effect of nicotine, (smoke of cigarette), was studied in smokers and non smokers during dexamethasone inhibitory test (1 mg h 23.00). ACTH and cortisol plasma levels, physiologically suppressed at 08.00, increased, after 30 min from smoking, only in group of non smokers. These data suggest that nicotine, in non smokers, could induce a maximum stimulus on diencephalic structures, so to overcome the inhibition of dexamethasone.