In behavioral studies, saz-A decreases nicotine self-administration and increases performance on tasks of attention.

Here, we investigated whether chronic saz-A and varenicline maintain the density of nAChRs after their up-regulation by nicotine.

Two men play the guitar-like saz as worshippers chant with increasing intensity, pounding their thighs to the rhythm.

In contrast, replacing nicotine treatments with chronic saz-A resulted in the return of the density of nAChRs to the levels seen in saline controls.

Leighton's sumptuous 1877 painting shows Gilchrist playing the saz, a Turkish stringed instrument, in a scene influenced by the artist's visit to Damascus in 1873.