I: Overview.- Current controversies in nicotine research.- Acute biological effects of nicotine and its metabolites.- Involvement of nicotine and its metabolites in the pathology of smoking-related diseases: Facts and hypotheses.- II. Structure and function of nicotinic receptors.- A cyclophilin-dependent mechanism for ?7 neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor maturation.- ?-Bungarotoxin receptor subtypes.- Neuronal nicotinic receptor structure and function.- Determinants regulating neuronal nicotinic receptor function.- Expression, function, and regulation of neuronal acetylcholine receptors containing the ?7 gene product.- III. Nicotinic receptor regulation and tolerance.- Biochemical measures of nicotinic receptor desensitization.- The role of desensitization in CNS nicotinic receptor function.- Presynaptic nicotinic autoreceptors and heteroreceptors in the CNS.- Regulation of neuronal nicotinic receptors in primary cultures.- Conditioned tolerance to nicotine in rats.- IV: Neuronal, trophic and endocrine effects of nicotine.- Developmental effects of nicotine.- Presynaptic nicotine-gated channels potentiate transmission at ACh and glutamate-mediated synapses.- Electrophysiology of neuronal nicotinic receptors in the CNS.- Factors controlling nicotinic acetylcholine receptor expression on rat sympathetic neurons.- Growth related role for the nicotinic ?-bungarotoxin receptor.- Mechanisms of nicotine stimulated cell proliferation in normal and neoplastic neuro-endocrine lung cells.- Activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis by nicotine: Neurochemical and neuroanatomical substrates.- Regulation of proenkephalin gene expression in bovine adrenal medullary chromaffin cells by nicotine.- Effects of nicotine on thromboxane and leukotriene synthesis in cellular systems.- V: Nicotine and smoking: Current controversies.- Smoking-induced alterations in brain electrical profiles: Normalization or enhancement?.- Nicotine and cognitive effects.- Evidence that nl#£