On 14 Jan 97 at 16:19, Lisa Carper wrote:

> Sara,
> Would you please give the group a summary of the article?
> Thanks, Lisa Carper
> for Jeff (46/8)
>
> At 02:55 PM 1/14/97 -0500, you wrote:
> >The Tuesday, Jan. 14th, New York Times has an interesting article about the
> >possible deterrent effect of nicotine on neurological diseases, especially
> >Parkinson's.
> >                                                           Sara Thomas
> >
> >
>
>
Here's the article:

          January 14, 1997

          Researchers Investigate (Horrors!) Nicotine's Potential
          Benefits

          By WARREN E. LEARY

          [I] n work that sounds a little like scientific
              blasphemy, medical researchers have begun paying
          increasing attention to some beneficial effects of
          nicotine that were first noticed in cigarette smokers.

          After years of quiet discussion among scientists, hints
          that cigarettes can protect against some diseases or
          improve the outcome of others have led to growing
          interest in finding out why. This has focused attention
          on nicotine, tobacco's most active ingredient, as a
          potential treatment for several major health problems,
          including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.

          Without question, researchers say, cigarette smoking
          does far more harm than any potential good and should
          be strongly discouraged. Smoking is a major cause of
          cancer and a host of cardiovascular and other diseases
          that cause millions of deaths each year, they say,
          while draining the world's health care systems of
          billions of dollars.

          But some researchers say efforts to stop smoking have
          discouraged research into the possible benefits of
          nicotine and related compounds in treating conditions
          like attention deficit disorders, an inflammatory bowel
          disease and a neurological condition called Tourette's
          syndrome.

          "The problem with nicotine is that it is tied to
          cigarettes and therefore seen as 'bad,' " said Dr. Paul
          Newhouse of the University of Vermont College of
          Medicine. "Clearly, this affects getting funding and it
          makes life difficult for those of us interested in
          nicotine as a drug. A lot of people have difficulty in
          being convinced that nicotine is potentially valuable."

          Dr. John A. Baron, a professor of medicine at Dartmouth
          Medical School who has studied the epidemiological link
          between smoking and Parkinson's disease for more than a
          decade, also says there has been resistance to doing
          research on nicotine and possible benefits.

          "The link between smoking and possible benefits is
          uncomfortable for many people," Baron said. "It's hard
          to accept, in an emotional sense, that an exposure so
          harmful in so many ways can have benefit. I detest
          smoking, but I also see evidence that research on
          nicotine could prove valuable and should be done."

          Dr. Zach W. Hall, director of the National Institute of
          Neurological Disorders and Stroke, said the federal
          government spent several million dollars a year on
          research related to nicotine. This work is mainly
          focused on looking at how the chemical acts on the
          brain and why there are receptors in the central
          nervous system that bind so strongly to nicotine, he
          said.

          "We have supported a program of basic research, which
          has been very fruitful," Hall said. "But we are not
          currently funding research on using nicotine as a
          treatment."

          Part of the renewed interest in testing nicotine as
          potential therapy for a number of conditions is that
          the chemical has recently become available in numerous
          nontobacco forms that allow it to be readily
          administered to people in different doses without the
          risks of smoking. Nicotine is available to help people
          stop smoking in delivery systems that include patches
          that allow the chemical to be absorbed through the
          skin, chewing gum, a nose spray and an oral inhaler.

          Another advance encouraging nicotine research is a
          better understanding of how the chemical works in the
          body, particularly in the brain. Throughout the body,
          there are protein units called nicotinic cholinergic
          receptors on the surface of many types of cells.
          Nicotine attaches to the receptors and stimulates
          activity in the cell. In particular, it stimulates the
          release of many types of neurotransmitters, chemical
          messengers that carry signals from cell to cell,
          including dopamine, acetylcholine and glutamate.

          Dr. Lorna W. Role, a professor of cell biology and
          anatomy at the Columbia University College of
          Physicians and Surgeons, said work by her group and
          others showed that nicotine binds to brain cells in a
          way that causes them to release a flood of
          neurotransmitters. This action by nicotine amplifies
          the signals of these neurotransmitters, helping to
          explain the broad spectrum of behavioral and cognitive
          effects that have been attributed to nicotine, she
          said. "This activity primarily affects the limbic
          system, which is the reward center of the brain, which
          encourages people to repeat whatever behavior that
          stimulated it," she said.

          For more than 20 years, evidence has been accumulating
          that cigarette smokers have a reduced risk of
          developing Parkinson's disease. A similar effect has
          also been noticed in epidemiological studies of
          Alzheimer's disease and ulcerative colitis, an
          inflammatory bowel disease.

          Data from numerous studies, which take into account the
          premature death of some smokers, suggest that smokers
          have half the risk of developing Parkinson's disease as
          those who have never smoked, researchers say, and
          several small studies have indicated that there is also
          a reduced risk for Alzheimer's disease, particularly
          with the inherited form of the disease.

          Parkinson's disease, a degenerative brain condition
          that results in tremors and loss of body control, is
          characterized by the death of brain cells that make the
          neurotransmitter dopamine and can be treated with drugs
          that replace the chemical.

          "Nicotine stimulates dopamine production in the brain
          and this could be a reason smoking appears to be
          beneficial with Parkinson's," said Dr. Newhouse of the
          University of Vermont. There are preliminary
          indications from small studies that nicotine patches or
          intravenous infusions of nicotine may help treat
          Parkinson's symptoms, he said.

          The relationship between nicotine and Alzheimer's
          disease, a progressive brain condition that leads to
          dementia and loss of memory, is also spurring interest.
          Dr. Michael G. Zagorski and his colleagues at Case
          Western Reserve University have found that nicotine
          appears to interfere with a major process of
          Alzheimer's, the formation of beta amyloid plaque
          deposits that block cell-to-cell communication. The
          researchers found in test-tube studies that nicotine
          kept soluble, beta-peptide chemicals from transforming
          into plaques that are toxic to nerve cells.

          Zagorski said the finding might help explain the
          inverse relationship between smoking and Alzheimer's
          that had been shown in epidemiological studies, and
          could lead to development of nicotine-like compounds
          that prevented or slowed the formation of amyloid
          plaque.

          Researchers are also developing artificial compounds
          that are either structurally or functionally similar to
          nicotine, hoping to mimic the action of the chemical
          without some of its side effects.

          Animal and human studies have shown that nicotine can
          enhance learning, memory, cerebral blood flow and the
          performance of certain repetitive tasks. Researchers
          have developed a series of nicotine-like compounds to
          enhance certain effects to make them more useful for
          particular diseases while reducing unwanted side
          effects.

          Newhouse recently reported on a small study he
          conducted with Alzheimer's patients using a nicotine
          analogue developed by Abbott Laboratories called
          ABT-418. After six-hour infusions with the drug,
          researchers found significant increases in short-term
          recall, improvements in spatial memory and better
          reaction times on tests.

          Dr. G. Kenneth Lloyd of Sibia Neurosciences Inc. in San
          Diego said his company was testing two nicotine-like
          compounds that separately targeted Parkinson's and
          Alzheimer's diseases. The idea is to home in on certain
          types of nicotine receptors in the brain, he said.

          One compound, SIB 1508Y, works on the release of the
          neurotransmitters dopamine and acetylcholine to target
          cognitive dysfunction associated with Parkinson's
          disease, and the other, SIB 1553A, enhances release of
          acetylcholine in hope of reversing short- and long-term
          memory defects associated with aging and Alzheimer's
          disease, Lloyd said.

          The company announced last month that based on
          promising results with animals, it had applied with the
          Food and Drug Administration to begin preliminary
          safety and dosage tests of SIB 1508Y in humans.

          Researchers have long noticed that ulcerative colitis,
          a chronic inflammation of the colon and rectum, is
          mostly a disease of nonsmokers.

          In a randomized, controlled trial with 72 patients,
          researchers at University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff
          found that after six weeks of using nicotine patches,
          patients had significantly improved symptoms.

          Digestive disease specialists note, however, that
          smoking and nicotine apparently have the opposite
          effect on a related inflammatory bowel condition,
          Crohn's disease. Studies indicate that smoking
          increases the risk and severity of Crohn's.

          Dr. Edward D. Levin of Duke University Medical Center
          studied the effects of nicotine patches on
          schizophrenic patients who were given haloperidol, a
          commonly used treatment but one with side effects
          harmful to memory and alertness. He found that nicotine
          significantly reduced the memory impairment caused by
          haloperidol.

          Dr. Paul R. Sanberg, a professor of neurological
          surgery at the University of South Florida in Tampa,
          has tested nicotine patches and haloperidol on patients
          with Tourette's syndrome, which causes them to twitch
          constantly and mutter meaningless sounds or phrases.

          Sanberg said the nicotine patch helped patients on whom
          haloperidol did not work well. He was co-author of a
          letter published in the journal Nature in October
          saying there was growing evidence indicating that
          nicotine had therapeutic properties.

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