Smoking sensory effects

Westman EC, Behm FM, et al (1996) Dissociating the nicotine and airway sensory effects of smoking. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 53(2) 309-315... 

One study has reported effects on neurobehavioral function in lead-exposed workers at mean PbB levels of 50 pg/dL (Williamson and Teo 1986). Neurobehavioral function was measured using tests that are based on information processing theory in 59 lead workers and 59 controls matched for age, type of job, time on the job, education level, smoking history, and alcohol consumption. Statistically significant decreases in the lead-exposed workers were seen for critical flicker fusion reaction, simple reaction time, tracking speeds, hand steadiness tests, and sensory store memory. Sensory store memory speed showed a low but statistically significant correlation with PbB concentrations. Measurements of neurobehavioral function seemed well chosen, and repeated measures with associated appropriate statistics were used. 

A comparison of RD, (respiratory depression) and LC, values of HC1 demonstrates that the mouse is also more sensitive than the rat to both the sensory irritant and also to the lethal effects of HC1. However, it has been claimed that the mouse may still be 7 to 10 times less sensitive than man and that a correction factor is required to extrapolate mice lethality data to man (4). The correction factor is based on the observation that HC1 (or smoke from PVC) is about 7 to 10 times more... 

Abstract For more than a half century, tobacco manufacturers have conducted sophisticated internal research to evaluate nicotine delivery, and modified their products to ensure availability of nicotine to smokers and to optimize its effects. Tobacco has proven to be a particularly effective vehicle for nicotine, enabling manipulation of smoke chemistry and of mechanisms of delivery, and providing sensory cues that critically inform patterns of smoking behavior as well as reinforce the impact of nicotine. A range of physical and chemical product design changes provide precise control over the quantity, form, and perception of nicotine dose, and support compensatory behavior, which is driven by the smoker s addiction to nicotine. Cigarette... 

The consumer may alter his smoking behavior based on sensory information so as to modify the sensory, chemical, and physiological properties of the smoke. This has imphcations for the physiological and psychological effects of smoking, since they may be affected by smoke dose and composition (R.J. Reynolds 1999). 

Ammonia compounds are a primary chemical component of many reconstituted tobaccos. The importance of ammoniation in the development of the characteristic flavor popularized by Marlboro has been widely pubhcized (Bates et al. 1999 Freedman 1995 Hurt and Robertson 1998). The chemical impact of ammoniation is complex and appears to influence the form and delivery of nicotine in a variety of interconnected ways (see BW Fig. 4) (Johnson 1989). Ammoniated reconstituted tobacco has a characteristic mild sensory profile, and features a number of important compounds created through the reaction between ammonia and sugars (J.R. Reynolds 1980 Wells and Kendrick 1995). Addition of ammonia as a strong base leads to increased smoke pH, which corresponds with increased levels of free nicotine in smoke (Hurt and Robertson 1998). Thus, a 1982 position paper from RJR observed that ... ammonia in smoke is one of the major pH controlling components and that ... studies of the effect of ammonia on smoke composition showed... an increase in physiological satisfaction with increasing ammonia content (Bemasek and Nystrom 1982). 

In contrast to the well-defined effects of asphyxiant toxicants, the effects of exposure to irritants are much more complex. Incapacitating irritants and smoke can cause death indirectly by preventing escape from fire. Most irritant fire effluents produce signs and symptoms of both sensory and upper... 

Doses from/with smoking. Nicotine causes release of catecholamines in the CNS, also serotonin, and antidiuretic hormone, corticotrophin and growth hormone. The effects of nicotine on viscera are probably largely reflex, from stimulation of sensory receptors (chemoreceptors) in the carotid and aortic bodies, pulmonary circulation and left ventricle. Some of the results are mutually antagonistic. 

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