Tobacco Documents Online

MEMORANDUM February 26, 1980. TO: Dr. A. W. Spears FROM: R. S. Marmor SiJBJECT: Dr. Leo G. Abood. Research Activities and~Correspondence All the research papers and correspondence mentioned inithis memo are attached. We became.interested iniDr. Abood"s research after reading aiNovember 1977 CTR meeting summary passed along to us as general information by Dr. Schultz. A lengthy article in C & E News oni"The Brain"s own Opiates" hadl appeared the same week. We had noted in the past Whidby and Seeman's work at Philip Morris on NMR configuration studies of nicotine, and the. CTR-sponsored analogi work of. E. Leete. IniJanuary 1978 I ini tiated! contact wi th Dr. Aboodl and invited him to deliver a seminar on his nicotine work. He accepted readily andl the seminar entitled "In Search of a Site and Mechanism for Nicotine's Action om the Brain" was delivered in March. He described his nrocedure for direct in vivo delivery of nicotine into rat hy-pothailamus,, and the observation of a unique nros tration-immobi li zation syndrome His seminar dealt mostly with the specifics of the procedure and the most effective locations in the brainifor bringing abou~t the syndrome. We tallkedl at length af tervwards . I can't recall whether he had just given or was about to giive the same seminar at Philip Morris but he indicated he hadl accepted~a similar invitation. He said he was not involved in research directly with any tobacco company, but would like to be:. He was particularly interested in any cooperative research ventures which would make use of his rat hypothalamus bioassay. Hie apparently is well staffed and positioned ait Rochester to accomplisll the biological activities needed to investigate nicotine, but did not have connections for detailed chemical work. He was intteres ted in working wi thius on ai nicotine anailogistudy., In April, I proposed joint research in this areai. As I und'ers tandli t, CTR management was considering a change of policy on grant issuance, such th~att our private involvement with Dr. Abood was not consideredlwise.. No work has been done by us.

Dr. A. W. Spears - 2' - February 26, 1980 . My own opinion is that it is impossible to predict what ef fect the elucidation of the mechanism of nicotine' s activi ty in the brain would have on the Tobacco industry. I can say that if we did understand the, biochemistry involved, it might be possible to:synthesize.inocuous nicotine-like flavorants. The library has provided~,me with abstracts of nine publications bearing his name since January 1978. These are also attached., ~. AI&IIILcv~ R. S. Marmor Xc: Dr. F. J. Schultz Attacli,. /gc