(-)-Cotinine

Cotinine is a minor alkaloid found in tobacco plants and is a major metabolite of nicotine.{20194} It has a long pharmacological half-life (15-19 hours) compared to that of nicotine (2-3 hours) and is often used as a biomarker to detect tobacco use.{24960,20195,20196} Cotinine binds nicotinic- and muscarinic-type acetylcholine receptors with minimal receptor desensitization and demonstrates antipsychotic drug-like properties in behavioral models, neuroprotective properties in neurodegenerative disease models, and enhances attention in a delayed matching-to-sample task.{24960}