Cigarette smoke exposure injures arterial endothelium

Cigarette Smoke Impairs Endothelium-Dependent Relaxation in Rabbit Superficial Femoral Veins

“…A robotic smoke generator was used to expose these rabbits (n ϭ 8) to the smoke of 600 cigarettes per day which was added to the air intake of the chamber. This smoke exposure is well tolerated by the rabbits and achieves serum cotinine and carboxyhemoglobin levels comparable to those of chronic human smokers by the second week of cigarette smoke exposure [3]. Another group of rabbits (n ϭ 5) was placed in and out of the chamber for 8 weeks similar to the smoke group; however, no smoke was added through the air intake of the chamber and they served as the control group.…”

“…The superficial femoral arteries demonstrated not only a decreased response to acetylcholine mediated relaxation but also an increased contractile response to both KCl and norepinephrine [3]. The endothelial dysfunction seen in the abdominal aorta harvested from rabbits exposed to both cigarette smoke and hypercholesterolemia as well showed a significant decrease in acetylcholine-mediated relaxation which was not accompanied by the increase in contractile response to KCl and norepinephrine [4].…”

“…Our laboratory has shown that exposure to cigarette smoke in our rabbit model has a profound effect on the superficial femoral artery [3]. This was manifested by an increased contractile response to KCl and norepinephrine and a marked decrease in acetylcholinemediated relaxation.…”

Ascorbic Acid Prevents Cigarette Smoke Injury to Endothelium-Dependent Arterial Relaxation

“…Previous work in our laboratory has documented impaired endothelium-dependent relaxation to acetylcholine in rabbit superficial femoral arteries and saphenous veins exposed to cigarette smoke [5,6]. This was believed to be a result of either decreased nitric oxide production or increased consumption of nitric oxide by cigarette smoke-induced production of oxygen free radicals.…”

“…relaxation of arteries both in vitro and in vivo [5,[11][12][13][14][15]. The exact mechanism of this injury has not been completely elucidated.…”