[The effect of smoking on the composition of the peripheral blood in normal subjects]

The peripheral blood erythrocytic and leukocytic status was studied in 60 healthy young tobacco-smokers and in 30 non-smokers. The smokers were divided into two subgroups, each with 30 members: those smoking for not more than 5 years and those smoking for 6 to 10 years. A trend to inhibition of erythro- and leukocytopoiesis was detected in Subgroup 1 tobacco smokers: reticulocyte maturation rate was reduced, as was bone marrow production and the level of circulating red cells, macrocyte count was increased and planocytosis was likely to develop, leukocyte counts were decreased at the expense of the neutrophils, eosinophils, and monocytes; basophil count was growing. Subgroup 2 tobacco-smokers presented with normalization of erythro- and leukocytopoiesis: reticulocyte maturation rate was growing, as was bone marrow production and the count of circulating red cells, erythrocytogram normalized, leukocyte count was increasing at the expense of the neutrophils, eosinophils, and lymphocytes; basophil count has decreased. The detected changes in the peripheral blood erythro- and leukocytic composition, related to the duration of tobacco-smoking, appear to reflect different phases of tobacco smoke toxic product effects on the bone marrow and the formation of the defense, adaptive, allergic, and immunologic reactions of the body in conditions of prolonged tobacco antigenemia.