Effect of intermittent cigarette smoke inhalation on tibial lengthening: experimental study on rabbits

We investigated the effect of intermittent cigarette smoke inhalation on the bone healing of tibial lengthening in rabbits. Thirty-eight male rabbits were divided into two groups of 19 animals each. The first group went through intermittent cigarette smoke inhalation, and the second group did not go through intermittent cigarette smoke inhalation. Each animal's right tibia was lengthened 5 mm using an uniplanar lengthening device. Five animals of each group were killed at 4, 6, and 8 weeks postoperatively for biomechanical testing, and one animal of each group was killed at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks postoperatively for histologic study. Using the contralateral nonoperated tibia as an internal control, we found that torsional strength of the lengthened tibia of the smoke inhalation group was decreased significantly compared with the non-smoke inhalation group. The mean percent of maximal torque at 4, 6, and 8 weeks were 22.0, 66.3, and 78.6%, respectively, in the smoke inhalation group, whereas the mean percent of maximal torque were 48.0, 84.1, and 90.8% %, respectively, in non-smoke inhalation group (one-tailed t test, p < 0.01, p < 0.01, and p < 0.05 at 4, 6, and 8 weeks, respectively). Our histologic observations revealed that the granulation tissue resorption, bone formation, and remodeling were delayed in smoke inhalation group. The results of this study suggest that intermittent inhalation of cigarette smoke delays, but does not prevent, the bone healing in tibial lengthening.