Abstract
Background: Cigarette smoking increases oxidative stress in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, no prior study has examined the effect of smoking in lungs of young smokers.
Aim: This study determines whether pulmonary oxidative stress is induced by smoking in young smokers.
Methods: Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentrations in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) were measured. To clarify whether smoking induces pulmonary oxidative stress, EBC samples were collected for 15 minutes before, immediately after, and 1, 2, 4, 8 and 12 hours after smoking. In another experiment, 15 male smokers (mean age: 25.9 ± 2.9 years) and 18 male nonsmokers (mean age: 24.2 ± 4.3 years) performed maximal exercise to induce oxidative stress. EBC samples were collected before and after maximal exercise. Smokers refrained from smoking for 12hr before the experiments.
Results: EBC H2O2 concentrations were increased immediately after and 1 hour after smoking compared to baseline levels. After maximal exercise, EBC H2O2 concentrations were significantly increased in the smokers, but not in the nonsmokers whereas there was no significant difference in baseline EBC H2O2 concentration between smokers and nonsmokers.
Conclusions: These findings suggested that smoking induces pulmonary oxidative stress in young cigarette smokers, which may lead to oxidative damage in the lungs.
- © 2014 ERS