Abstract

Cigarette smoke can cause cellular oxidative stress and contributes to various adverse health effects associated with smoke exposure, partially due to reactive oxygen species (ROS) present in cigarette smoke. The purpose of present work is to evaluate toxic potential of selected Chinese blended and flue-cured cigarettes in terms of ROS quantification and effect of different smoking behaviors on the deliveries of ROS in whole cigarette mainstream smoke (MSS). In this work, fluorescence assay using Dihydrorhodamine 6G molecular was applied to the detection of ROS in MSS. Factors affecting trapping efficiency of ROS and the applicability of the method, such as trapping solution composition and pH were also investigated. Results indicated that, under ISO conditions, the deliveries of ROS in MSS from selected Chinese blended cigarettes were higher than those from flue-cured cigarettes (mean 32.65 versus 15.20 nmol cig-1). Moreover, larger amount of ROS was produced under Canadian intense conditions than under ISO conditions for all the cigarettes tested (mean 31.54 versus 23.93 nmol cig-1), especially for blended cigarettes in which more than 40% increase was found (mean 45.90 versus 32.65 nmol cig-1). These findings showed that smokers might be exposed to elevated levels of ROS as well as other toxic chemicals when switching from regular to low tar or nicotine cigarettes. 

Key words: Reactive oxygen species, cigarette smoke, blended cigarette, machine smoking regime, fluorospectrophotometer.