Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1993 Nov;75(5):1955-61.
doi: 10.1152/jappl.1993.75.5.1955.

Nicotine is responsible for airway irritation evoked by cigarette smoke inhalation in men

L Y Lee  1 , D C Gerhardstein, A L Wang, N K Burki
Affiliations

Nicotine is responsible for airway irritation evoked by cigarette smoke inhalation in men

L Y Lee et al. J Appl Physiol (1985). 1993 Nov.

Abstract

To determine whether nicotine is involved in evoking the irritant effects of cigarette smoke in airways, we studied the responses to inhalation of a single puff (30 ml) of three types of smoke (high nicotine, low nicotine, and gas phase) in healthy male nonsmokers. After the upper airways were locally anesthetized, the subjects, breathing through a mouthpiece, were instructed to signal the detection and the intensity of airway irritation with a push-button device. Inhalation of high-nicotine smoke consistently triggered an intense airway irritation in the lower neck and upper chest region; the total number of push-button signals generated in the first 5 s was 6.61 +/- 0.87 (mean +/- SE, n = 12), with a detection latency of 0.93 +/- 0.11 s. By contrast, inhalation of low-nicotine and gas phase smoke either was not detected or caused only very mild irritation (0.89 +/- 0.4 and 0.36 +/- 0.22, respectively). In addition, the intensity of smoke-induced airway irritation was markedly reduced after premedication with aerosolized hexamethonium, a nicotinic receptor antagonist (P < 0.01, n = 8). Furthermore, inhalation of nicotine aerosol also immediately evoked intense airway irritation and coughs (n = 5). Thus we conclude that the airway irritation evoked by inhaling cigarette smoke results from an activation of sensory endings located in the central airways and nicotine is the primary agent responsible for this action.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources