Nicotine

General 7: What happens in the liver?

The nicotine molecules enter the liver cells through the walls of the capillaries. Liver cells contain vast amounts of enzymes. These are a kind of workers that help convert or break down substances.

They also break down the nicotine molecules. It takes 90 minutes for the liver to break down half of the nicotine in the blood. The breakdown products (metabolites) as well as some unprocessed nicotine molecules are released from the liver cells back into the bloodstream.