Deposition and clearance of labeled cigarette smoke particles in rat respiratory and digestive tract

Chronic cigarette smoke exposure masks pathological features of Helicobacter pylori infection while promoting tumor initiation

Gastric cancer is the fifth most common cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Chronic infection by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori is the most prominent gastric cancer risk factor, but only 1-3% of infected individuals will develop gastric cancer. Cigarette smoking is another independent gastric cancer risk factor, and H. pylori- infected smokers are at a 2-11-fold increased risk of gastric cancer development, but the direct impacts of cigarette smoke on H. pylori pathogenesis remain unknown. In this study, male C57BL/6 mice were infected with H. pylori and began smoking within one week of infection. The mice were exposed to cigarette smoke (CS) five days/week for 8 weeks. CS exposure had no notable impact on gross gastric morphology or inflammatory status compared to filtered-air (FA) exposed controls in mock-infected mice. However, CS exposure significantly blunted H. pylori- induced gastric inflammatory responses, reducing gastric atrophy and pyloric metaplasia development. Despite blunting these classic pathological features of H. pylori infection, CS exposures increased DNA damage within the gastric epithelial cells and accelerated H. pylori- induced dysplasia onset in the INS-GAS gastric cancer model. These data suggest that cigarette smoking may clinically silence classic clinical symptoms of H. pylori infection but enhance the accumulation of mutations and accelerate gastric cancer initiation.

Nebulized amphotericin B concentration and distribution in the respiratory tract of lung-transplanted patients

BACKGROUND

A criticism of using nebulized amphotericin B (nAB) as prophylaxis against Aspergillus infection after lung transplantation is the lack of knowledge of its pharmacokinetics and distribution in the lung. The aim of this study was to ascertain the concentrations and distribution of nAB in the respiratory tract of patients receiving lung transplantations.

METHODS

In the drug-concentration study, 120 bronchoscopies were performed in 39 patients receiving lung transplantions after administration of 6 mg of nAB once daily for a minimum of 7 days. Mean nAB concentration in bronchial aspirated secretions (BAS) and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was determined at 4, 12, 24, and 48 hours postnebulization. In the distribution study, 17 patients inhaled 6 mg of 99m technetium-labeled AB, and pulmonary distribution was measured using a gamma camera. Pulmonary perfusion was also measured. Both tests were quantitatively evaluated.

RESULTS

In the drug-concentration study, mean concentrations of 1.46 microg/mL in BAS and 15.75 microg/mL in BAL were reached at 4 hours. At 24 hours, concentrations were 0.37 microg/m and 11.02 microg/mL in BAS and BAL, respectively. In the distribution study, 99m technetium-labeled AB distribution was uniform in 12 of 13 allografts without bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) and in 1 of 4 allografts with BOS. A close correlation was observed between regional drug distribution and regional perfusion (r=0.82, P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

nAB concentrations remained high for the first 24 hours in BAL and for less time in BAS, with distribution of the drug being uniform in patients without BOS. Furthermore, lung-perfusion studies appear to be useful to ascertain nAB distribution in patients receiving lung transplantions.

Pulmonary macrophage mobilization in hamsters after cessation of smoking

Male Syrian hamsters were exposed to smoke from three different types of cigarettes rated as mild, medium, and strong on the basis of their smoke chemistry for 4 weeks. These hamsters were euthanized at 0, 1 and 2 weeks of recovery after the last smoke exposure to study the pulmonary cell response after cessation of smoking. The free macrophage count determined on lung sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin was used as the index to evaluate the rate of recovery from smoke-related insult caused by the different types of cigarettes. The number of macrophages in the smoke-exposed hamsters was consistently greater throughout the recovery period than in the controls, depending on the amount of particulate components including tar and nicotine in the test cigarettes. The macrophage mobilization peaked at the first week of recovery and then showed a tendency to decrease at the second week. At the second week, however, the hamsters exposed to smoke from strong or medium cigarettes still showed significantly higher counts than the controls, while no significant change was noted in those exposed to smoke from mild cigarettes. These results indicate that the process and duration of recovery after cessation of smoking may depend on the extent of particulate matter impinging on the respiratory tract, so that strong cigarettes would be more hazardous because of greater number and longer retention of macrophages in the lung.

Deposition and clearance of inhaled diesel exhaust particles in the respiratory tract of Fischer rats

The fate of inhaled diesel particles was determined in male Fischer 344 rats using radioactive tracers of 131Ba and 14C. Test animals were exposed in a 'nose-only' inhalation chamber for 40-45 min to diluted diesel exhaust generated from diesel engines burning type 2D diesel fuel containing either 131Ba labelled barium dodecylbenzene sulfonate or 14C labelled n-hexadecane. Immediately after exposure, the deposition efficiency of inhaled diesel particles in the respiratory tract was determined to be 15 +/- 6% by external gamma counting of 131Ba and 17 +/- 2% by liquid scintillation counting of 14C in the lung tissue samples. Elimination of the particles was observed by measuring the 131Ba activity in which 40% of the initial deposition was excreted in the feces via the GI tract in 4 days. The long-term retention was determined with the 14C tag in the insoluble 'core' of the diesel particles. Two distinct phases of clearance were evident in the experimental data collected up to 105 days. Clearance half-times of 1 day and 62 days were found for mucociliary and alveolar clearance, respectively. A small fraction of the particles, about 6% of the initial deposition, was found in the mediastinal lymph nodes after 28 days. This demonstrated that the lymphatic system was also involved in the removal of diesel particles from the pulmonary airways.

Cigarette smoking by baboons: in vivo assessment of particulate inhalation using bronchoalveolar lavage to recover [14C]dotriacontane

In order to demonstrate quantitatively that cigarette-smoking baboons inhale particulate matter into the lung, a bronchoalveolar lavage method for recovery of [14C]dotriacontane was developed. First, 9 baboons were exposed to a known dose of [14C]dotriacontane labeled particulate matter delivered in a manner providing extensive deposition of particulates in the lung. The lungs of these passively exposed animals then were lavaged so that the efficiency of recovery of the standardized lavage procedure could be determined. Second, 9 baboons actively smoked labeled cigarettes, and the lungs of these animals were lavaged to recover labeled [14C]dotriacontane. The total amount of particulate matter present in the lungs was estimated using the efficiency factor previously determined. The smoking baboons retained an average of 9% of he total cigarette particulate matter. Differences among animals in retention of particulate matter were considerable, and the inter-animal variability was related to differences in number, volume, duration, and pressure of puffs. The retention of particulate matter by baboons is similar to particulate retention by other animal smoke inhalation models.