Does human brain produce nicotine? I had a discussion with a high school student about the effect and production of nicotine. He mentioned that nicotine is naturally produced in our brain so when the person takes to smoking, the brain stops producing its own nicotine and starts craving it from an external source. According to him, this is how nicotine addiction develops. How true is this? The students also claimed that nicotine in cigarettes is harmless. I have already seen the answer about how toxic it is to humans, but I would love to know: 1. What's the lethal dose for nicotine via ingestion (not inhaling)? 2. How does nicotine compare to other toxic substances - for example, cyanide or any other known poison? Is it more toxic or less toxic? THANK YOU

No, the human brain does not produce nicotine. The brain has nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, but the endogenous agonist for these receptors is acetylcholine, not nicotine; they aren't named "nicotinic" because they are _for_ nicotine but just because nicotine happens to act on them. Many other human receptors are named similarly, based on discovering the molecular basis for sensitivity to exogenous compounds.

The human LD50 for nicotine is reported between 0.5-13 mg/kg depending on age and other factors, but LD50 is only appropriate for evaluating acute toxins; many substances, including nicotine, are most often encountered in small chronic amounts, but concentrated availability of nicotine in insecticides or vape juice can be a plausible source for sufficient doses for acute toxicity. Studies of nicotine toxicity in relationship to smoking are going to be based on much smaller doses over many more administrations.