# Questão c5f23363-cc — Inglês

> Questão de múltipla escolha com gabarito, do acervo do Dicas do ENEM.
> Página com a questão respondível: https://dicasdoenem.com.br/questao/c5f23363-cc

- **Código:** c5f23363-cc
- **Disciplina:** [Inglês](https://dicasdoenem.com.br/disciplina/16-ingles)
- **Área:** [Linguagens](https://dicasdoenem.com.br/area/linguagens)
- **Ano:** [2025](https://dicasdoenem.com.br/ano/2025)
- **Instituição:** Escola Superior de ciências da Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Vitória
- **Assuntos:** Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension
- **Nível:** Fácil
- **Gabarito:** alternativa D

## Enunciado

INSTRUCTION: Read the following text to answer the question.

What happens in the brain when people smoke?

When nicotine enters the lungs, it’s in the brain 20 seconds
later. In this journey, nicotine has traveled through the cells
in the lungs to the blood — and then from the blood to
the brain, passing through the blood‑brain barrier. In all,
nicotine passes through six membranes when it’s smoked
or vaped.

Once nicotine is in the brain, it activates the most
sensitive nicotinic receptors on membranes of nerve cells,
or neurons, but it also travels through the membrane to
enter the neuron. Finally, it passes into the organelles of
the neuron, where proteins, including the nicotinic receptor,
are being made. When a person smokes, nicotine actually
helps the cell to assemble more nicotinic receptors,
which travel out of the endoplasmic reticulum (part of the
cellular transportation system) and onto the surface of the
cell. It’s as though nicotine is acting as a pharmacological
“chaperone” to bring those receptors to the surface of
the cell.

We have labeled this process “inside out” pharmacology.
In trying to unravel the cell biology of nicotine addiction,
my lab and others study how this so‑called chaperoning
or upregulating of nicotinic receptors is necessary for the
early stages of nicotine dependence, ultimately underlying
the brain’s addiction to nicotine. When a person stops
taking nicotine, the natural acetylcholine cannot sufficiently
activate the upregulated receptors. They produce craving
and other symptoms of withdrawal.

Available at: https://scienceexchange.caltech.edu/topics/
neuroscience/neuroscience-experts/nicotine-addictionneuroscience-henry-lester#what-happens-in-the-brainwhen-people-smoke. Accessed on: Aug 1st, 2025.

What is the primary function of nicotine in the process the
author calls “inside out” pharmacology?

## Alternativas

- **A)** It blocks the nicotinic receptors, preventing them
 from functioning.
- **B)** It stimulates the release of acetylcholine, which then
 directly causes the upregulation of receptors on the
 cell’s surface.
- **C)** It dissolves the endoplasmic reticulum within
 the neuron.
- **D)** It promotes the formation and movement of
 additional nicotinic receptors to the cell’s surface. ✔ **correta**

## Resposta correta

Alternativa **D**.

## Como citar

Dicas do ENEM. Questão c5f23363-cc. Disponível em: https://dicasdoenem.com.br/questao/c5f23363-cc