Nicotine facilitates pancreatic fibrosis by promoting activation of pancreatic stellate cells via α7nAChR-mediated JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway in rats

Smoking has been considered as a risk factor of chronic pancreatitis (CP), but the potential mechanism is still unknown. The major pathological feature of CP is pancreatic fibrosis, whose major functional cells are pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs). Nicotine is the major component of cigarette smoke, our recent study suggested that nicotine has the potential to facilitate pancreatic fibrosis in CP. This study was aimed to analyze the function and...