What are the effects of nicotine on the body? [NOT delivery by smoking or patches]?

[yousayWHAm]

I know it speeds heart rate, increases blood pressure...but what else?

Mainly, what I'm wondering, is what are the long term effects?
I know the dangers of smoking. I want to know what plain old Nicotine does to your body when it's 100% on it's own, no smoke or carcinogens, etc.
Thanks Trevor

I've been thinking of getting an E-Cigarette, one of the tested ones that don't include the anti-freeze component, but maybe I'll just try quitting cold turkey on all forms...
But I'd miss the weight loss...
I've been using smoking to get down to my desired weight (at least 150) but I don't want to do something that will be just as harmful as being overweight, hence the E-Cig thought.

 

[Amber]

It's the smoke part of ciggarettes that makes them carcinogenic, only because smoke has radioactive particles in it, thus exposing the lungs to radiation.
Nicotine by itself has not been shown to be carcinogenic.
Quoted directly from wikipedia
"The carcinogenic properties of nicotine in standalone form, separate from tobacco smoke, have not been evaluated by the IARC, and it has not been assigned to an official carcinogen group. The currently available literature indicates that nicotine, on its own, does not promote the development of cancer in healthy tissue and has no mutagenic properties. However, nicotine and the increased cholinergic activity it causes have been shown to impede apoptosis, which is one of the methods by which the body destroys unwanted cells (programmed cell death). Since apoptosis helps to remove mutated or damaged cells that may eventually become cancerous, the inhibitory actions of nicotine may create a more favourable environment for cancer to develop, though this also remains to be proven.[43][unreliable source?]"

 

[thatguy1]

Nicotine acts directly on the heart to change heart rate and blood pressure. It also acts on the nerves that control respiration to change breathing patterns. In high concentrations, nicotine is deadly, in fact one drop of purified nicotine on the tongue will kill a person. It's so lethal that it has been used as a pesticide for centuries.