Journal of toxicology and environmental health
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J Toxicol Environ Health · Mar 1981
Estimating the hazards of less hazardous cigarettes. II. Study of cigarette yields of nicotine, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen cyanide in relation to levels of cotinine, carboxyhemoglobin, and thiocyanate in smokers.
Yields of chemical constituents such as tar, nicotine, CO, and HCN defined by smoking machines are commonly assumed to provide a reasonable indication of the relative hazard associated with smoking a given brand of cigarette. Results reported here suggest that this assumption should be carefully reexamined. ⋯ In addition, a comparison of levels of carboxyhemoglobin and plasma thiocyanate for 16 smokers of "low-hazard" and 15 smokers of "high-hazard" cigarette brands revealed little difference between the two groups, even though average cigarette yields differed as much as 2- to 3-fold. A possible explanation for the results may be that current values for average puff volume, duration, and interval differ significantly from those used in programming smoking machines, particularly in the case of brands with low nicotine delivery.
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J Toxicol Environ Health · Mar 1981
Effects of sulfuric acid aerosols on pulmonary function of guinea pigs.
Forty-seven Hartley guinea pigs were exposed for 1 h to approximately 1-micrometer (mass median aerodynamic diameter) sulfuric acid aerosols at concentrations that ranged from 1.2 to 48.3 mg/m3. Ten animals (controls) were exposed to filtered room air only. Eight H2SO4-exposed animals exhibited marked increases in total pulmonary resistance and marked decreases in dynamic compliance. ⋯ Compared to nonresponders, responsive animals had higher preexposure values of tidal transpulmonary pressure excursions and total pulmonary resistance and lower values of dynamic compliance. Preexposure transpulmonary pressure excursions were positively correlated with minute volume only for nonresponsive animals; transpulmonary pressure excursions were positively correlated with total pulmonary resistance in responsive animals. The results suggest that the Hartley guinea pig reacts to inhaled H2SO4 with an essentially all-or-none airway constrictive response and that an animal's sensitivity to this response may be related to its preexposure airway caliber.