[Early histopathological changes in trachea, bronchus and lung, and changes in lipid peroxidation in hamsters, due to...

The main objective of this work was to determine the influence of cigarette smoke exposure on the mechanisms which promote respiratory tumors. And another aim was the accumulation of basic data regarding the effect of cigarette smoke exposure in hamsters in the Hamburg II smoking machine. Male Syrian golden hamsters were caused to inhale cigarette smoke in the Hamburg II smoking machine. The hamsters inhaled cigarette smoke twice a day, for 9 minutes, 5 times a week. The administration period were 1,2,4,8 and 12 weeks. For each inhalation, the rotating disk was fitted with 30 cigarettes. Each puff, 35 ml in volume, was diluted seven times with room air. At the completion of administration, subjects were examined histopathologically, and lung and serum lipid peroxidation levels were also measured. Histopathological examination of the respiratory tract and alveolar epithelium disclosed no cigarette smoke-related hyperplastic lesion in any animal. And in the hamsters which inhaled cigarette smoke, "smoke cells" accumulation were observed in the alveolar space after 8 and 12 weeks exposure. Significant increase in the number of BrdU positive cells were not observed following cigarette smoke exposure, but a tendency for lung malondialdehyde (MDA) levels to increase was evident. On the other hand, serum lipid peroxide (LPO) levels showed a marked decrease in the animals exposed to cigarette smoke for 2,4 and 8 weeks in comparison with the identically handled control animals. But serum LPO levels showed a tendency to increase with cigarette smoking during all experimental periods. The above results suggested that cigarette smoking may cause a change in lipid peroxidation levels such as lung MDA and serum LPO levels.