A study released Monday by the University of Vermont suggests that nicotine might prove highly effective as a treatment for Tourette’s syndrome, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, as well as other brain afflictions.

However, there is one glaring problem — nicotine is nicotine. But despite its poor public-relations image, ISU medical experts said nicotine has tremendous potential as a medicine.

Randy Mayer, program coordinator for evaluation and research at the Student Health Center, said he thinks nicotine’s capacity to cure disease is promising.

“[Nicotine] is useful as a medical drug,” Mayer said. “This may help with [smoking] prevention efforts as well.”

Mayer said one of the main issues in using nicotine in a medicinal manner is changing the public perception of the substance.

“Nicotine is a drug and should be treated and regulated as a drug; its use as a treatment will help people view nicotine as a drug,” he said.

Mayer said it is important to get the public to recognize the difference between nicotine and cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products.

“There are many other carcinogens in cigarettes, cigars and chew tobacco. [If nicotine is used as a medicine], other carcinogens will be removed,” he said.

The doctors who conducted the study made a concerted effort to point out that cigarette smoking is not a safe way to ingest nicotine, and instead suggested using nicotine chewing gum and patches intended to aid in smoking cessation.

Dr. Malhar Gor‚, Student Health Center physician, said this will be an important issue for researchers to consider.

“Inhaled nicotine is worse because it affects the mucus membranes directly, and it is combined with other products that worsen its effects,” Gor‚ said.

Gor‚ said nicotine is thought to help alleviate the symptoms of some brain diseases because it affects the brain’s levels of message-carrying chemicals such as dopamine and acetylcholine. However, he stressed that not all of the diseases were the same.

“Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Tourette’s are not related diseases,” he said. “Different problems and different solutions are present in each situation.”

For instance, Gor‚ said Parkinson’s is caused by lowered levels of dopamine in the brain that inhibit the organ from functioning properly, while Tourette’s syndrome is a severe chronic tic disorder that appears to be inheritable.