Physiological Impact of Nicotine on Rats

Abstract

Nicotine is the well-known chemical compound which responsible for addiction in tobacco smoking and consider as the main cause of mortality worldwide. This study aims to estimate the level of antioxidants and lipid peroxidation in rats exposed to nicotine. Totally, 40 male rats were selected, acclimated and divided equally into two groups; G1 as control and G2 as an experimental group injected subcutaneously with 0.25 ml of nicotine daily for 28 days. Finally, the study animals were served to sampling of blood and lung samples. Results of CAT revealed a significant decreases in G2 (8.84 ± 0.52 pg/ml) when compared to G1 (18.36 ± 1.23 pg/ml). Concerning GPx, significant reduction was seen in G2 (215.91 ± 14.96 pg / ml) in comparison with G1 (418.48  ± 15.17 pg / ml). For SOD, value of G2 (3.37 ± 0.1 U / ml) was lowered significantly more than G1 (7.58 ± 0.17 U / ml). Significantly, higher MDA concentration were seen in G2 (126.25 ± 5.95 ng / ml) than G1 (53.8 ± 4.51 ng / ml). In conclusion, we showed that nicotine is a harmful material for lung tissues and has serious systemic side effects which detected by reducing of the antioxidants and induces of furthermore MDA. Moreover studies are of great importance to detect the effect of nicotine on lung development as well as its effect on other body organs