Nicotine promotes survival of cells expressing amyloid precursor protein and presenilin: Implication for Alzheimer's disease

► Cells expressing amyloid precursor protein (APP) or a combination of APP and presenilin show significant mortality. ► Nicotine dose dependently attenuated cell loss with highest sensitivity in doubly transfected cells. ► Nicotine's effect was blocked by mecamylamine with differential sensitivity in different cell lines. ► The results support therapeutic potential for nicotinic agonists in at least a subtype of AD.