Kang tsou (1932-1999)

It is with great sadness that we report the death of Prof. Kang Tsou. Born on 27 January 1932 in Shanghai, China, he completed his medical degree in 1952 and his graduate studies in 1961 at the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Known to his many friends and students as TK, he passed away on 24 February following complications after a stroke. Throughout his career, TK was an experimentalist at heart and was happiest at the bench. His contributions to neuroscience included the demonstration of a major site for opiate action in the periaqueductal grey (PAG) and the co-discovery of the GABAA-receptor antagonist, bicuculline. More recently, his work had focused on the actions of cannabinoids, using broad behavioral, neurophysiological and anatomical approaches.In 1962, he and his thesis advisor, C.S. Jang, published a paper investigating the effects of opiates following microinjection into discrete brain regions. They demonstrated that microinjection of morphine into the PAG produced profound analgesia. (In 1964, this research was published in English1xTsou, K. and Kang, C.S. Scientica Sinica. 1964; 13: 1099–1109PubMedSee all References.) In the early 1970s, John Liebeskind's group at UCLA was examining electrical-stimulation-produced analgesia in the PAG, when they came across TK's paper. His work led them to hypothesize that electrical stimulation released a morphine-like substance that acted on PAG neurons, and this, in turn, prompted Hans Kosterlitz and his team in Aberdeen to search for a chemical made by the brain that had the properties of morphine. This work culminated with the identification of [Met]enkephalin and [Leu]enkephalin, the first of several opioid peptides to be discovered. Many thousands of subsequent research papers have detailed the functions of these compounds. These discoveries have changed the way scientists think about pain and its inhibition, because they have shown that the body has its own pain inhibitory circuits, which can be manipulated or artificially activated by drugs for therapeutic benefit. Another study by TK (Ref. 2xTsou, K. and Chang, Z-L. Acta Phys. Sinica. 1964; 27: 369–377PubMedSee all ReferencesRef. 2), published in Chinese during the same period and unknown in the West, was apparently the first to show that direct application of morphine to the spinal cord inhibited spinal responses to pain. This work preceded similar studies in the West by about ten years and provided the scientific basis for the spinal administration of opiates for pain relief during labor or following surgery.In the years that followed, TK searched for analgesic properties in other alkaloids provided by colleagues in the phytochemistry department of the Shanghai Institute. He was struck by the fact that one of the compounds he tested produced seizures. These seizures were typically not lethal and were qualitatively different from those produced by other convulsants then known, such as strychnine. With the help of a Canadian colleague, TK found that the seizure-producing substance was a previously synthesized compound, bicuculline, but that almost nothing was known about its pharmacology. His group proceded to demonstrate that bicuculline was producing seizures as a consequence of its action as a GABA-receptor antagonist, a finding that was of major importance in experimental neuroscience. He submitted a report to the Chinese Physiological Society that presented some of his group's findings, and a paper to the Chinese Journal of Physiology. Unfortunately, owing to the Cultural Revolution and the suspension of all scientific publications in 1966 by the Chinese government, this work was not published. Five years later Graham Johnston, who was working in David Curtis' laboratory in Canberra, found a similar result that replicated and extended TK's studies. As Johnston appropriately stated, the Cultural Revolution effectively held up progress in GABA pharmacology some 5 years'3xJohnston, G. Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 1985; 6: 159See all References.During the Cultural Revolution, the Shanghai Institute was effectively shut down and TK, along with the other scientists, were reassigned by the government. He, his family and his colleagues suffered considerably during this period. However, when speaking of these years, he would say with his typical quiet smile that many others had a harder time. Following the end of the Cultural Revolution, TK returned to the Institute. Taking advantage of the opportunity for scientific exchange during the ‘opening’ of China, TK spent time in the laboratories of Huda Akil and Paul Greengard in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In both of these laboratories his knowledge and excitement, and the joy that experimentation gave him left a lasting mark on those he met. Between and after these experiences he returned to China, continuing to mentor and direct a successful group at the Institute. However, by the late 1980s it was clear to TK that he had accomplished what he could in China and that it was time for a new generation of Chinese scientists to follow in his footsteps. As both of his children were in the USA, he returned there once again in 1988. For several years he worked with Paul Greengard at Rockefeller University, investigating neurochemical signaling in the basal ganglia.In 1993, he moved to Brown University, where he worked for the rest of his life in association with Michael Walker. Here, over a five-year period, he and his collaborators conducted a number of significant studies in the field of cannabinoid biology. The range of his work was broad. It included fundamental studies on the neurophysiological effects of cannabinoids in controlling both movement and analgesia; the demonstration of a unique withdrawal syndrome in cannabinoid-tolerant animals when given the CB1-receptor antagonist, SR174716A; and a detailed immunocytochemical mapping of the CB1 receptor in the rat brain.Through his work, TK left an indelible impression on neuroscience research in the latter half of the 20th century. This work in itself is sufficient for him to be remembered. Yet those who knew TK as a person will remember him equally for his infectious love of science, his courage, his joy for life and his kindness. He mentored his students by encouragement and a shared love of discovery. Without distinguishing by academic rank, he treated colleagues, students and staff with respect and kindness. His personal modesty coupled with his deep understanding of the literature led to comfortable and insightful discussions. He was truly a great scientist and person who never lost his humanity. Although, in body, TK might be gone, a little bit of him lives on in all of us fortunate enough to have known him.