Cigarette smoke, cellular vitamin

Increasing evidence indicates that diet/nutrition plays an important role in modulating the action and/or metabolism of a number of chemicals, drugs and environmental pollutants. Nutrients are essential for all fundamental cellular processes. The nutritional status of the affected subject may, therefore, influence cellular susceptibility to the effect of xenobiotics, including those from cigarette smoke. While the precise role of vitamin E in cellular metabolism is not yet clear, the vitamin may protect essential cellular components from the adverse effects of xenobiotics either via a free radical scavenging mechanism or as a component of the cell membrane (10-11). Administration of vitamin E has been shown to lessen the toxicity of a variety of compounds (12-16). 

The studies reported herein deal primarily with the influence of dietary vitamin E on cellular susceptibility of rats to cigarette smoke. 

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