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Updated: Jul 13, 2026
Impact Assessment of Repeated Exposure of Organotypic 3D Bronchial and Nasal Tissue Culture Models to Whole Cigarette Smoke
Published on: February 12, 2015
Nicotine does not influence arterial lipid deposits in rabbits exposed to second-hand smoke
1Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine and the Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Background:
Second-hand smoke (SHS) accelerates atherogenesis and impairs vascular function. The role of nicotine in this process has not been defined.
Methods And Results:
To examine the potential effects of nicotine on atherogenesis and vascular function, 48 rabbits receiving a 0.5% cholesterol diet were randomized to control (cholesterol diet only), SHS from nicotine-standard research cigarettes (SHS-ST), and SHS from nicotine-free research cigarettes (SHS-NF). The SHS rabbits were exposed to 48 nicotine-standard (12 animals) or nicotine-free (12 animals) cigarettes/d, 5 d/wk for 10 weeks. Air carbon monoxide and particulates and plasma carboxyhemoglobin were significantly higher in the 2 SHS groups than the control group (P<0.001). The SHS-ST group had significant increases in plasma nicotine and cotinine compared with the other groups (P<0.001). There was no difference in serum lipids. Lipid lesions were increased in both SHS groups (54+/-5% [SEM] aorta and 66+/-4% pulmonary artery, 53+/-7% and 69+/-4%, and 39+/-4% and 43+/-3% in the SHS-ST, SHS-NF, and control groups, respectively; P=0.049 aorta and P<0.001 pulmonary artery).
Conclusions:
SHS exposure increased arterial lipid lesions, but nicotine did not contribute significantly to this effect. This effect is presumably due to other combustion products in the smoke.
