Nicotine, a Popular Poison

Naturally occurring in tobacco and some other members of the nightshade family of plants, nicotine is a toxic chemical used primarily as a mood-altering drug, but was also used as a pesticide. Nicotine functions as an agonist to most nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and as an antagonist to other receptors in the parasympathetic nervous system. Effects of nicotine include mild analgesia and increased cognition, attention, memory, and some fine motor skills. 

Nicotine is widely used, highly addictive, and yields unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, such as cravings, depression, stress, anxiety, irritability, and difficulties with concentration and sleep. It is often used in conjunction with other drugs and has been shown to enhance cue-induced cravings among cocaine users. 

Other adverse effects include elevated blood pressure and heart rate, upset stomach, disturbed sleep, birth defects if consumed while pregnant, and nicotine poisoning, which may result in vomiting, seizures, depression of the central nervous system, coma, and death. Nicotine poisoning can be detected by testing for the nicotine metabolite—cotinine—via quantitative and rapid tests of urine or blood samples. 

Pyxis Laboratories provides Cotinine-BSA useful for detecting metabolized nicotine in biological fluids via lateral flow or EIA/ELISA rapid tests, as well as a wide range of drug antigen conjugates and drug antibodies for drug test batteries, including but not limited to:

Amphetamines

Benzodiazepines

Cannabinoids, natural and synthetic

Cocaine

Ketamine

PCP

Opioids

For a complete list of our products, please visit our catalog here: https://www.pyxislabs.com/products/