Abstract
A MAJOR advance in the elucidation of nicotine metabolism was the demonstration by McKennis et al. 1 that dogs receiving nicotine excreted small amounts of γ-(3-pyridyl)-γ-methylaminobutyric acid and its lactam, cotinine. These workers favoured the view that cotinine was formed in urine by spontaneous lactamization of the acid. However, they also suggested that cotinine might be an intermediate in nicotine metabolism which was hydrolysed to the acid in vivo.
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HUCKER, H., GILLETTE, J. & BRODIE, B. Cotinine: an Oxidation Product of Nicotine formed by Rabbit Liver. Nature 183, 47 (1959). https://doi.org/10.1038/183047a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/183047a0
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