Biomarkers of exposure and potential harm in adult smokers of 3-7 mg tar yield (Federal Trade Commission) cigarettes and in adult non-smokers.

The paper reports levels of 24-h urine nicotine and five of its major metabolites (expressed as nicotine-equivalents) and blood carboxyhaemoglobin as biomarkers of exposure to particulate- and gas-phase cigarette smoke, respectively, from an exploratory pilot study of adult smokers of 3.0-6.9 mg tar delivery (Federal Trade Commission (FTC) method) cigarettes. On multiple occasions over 6 weeks, blood high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), fibrinogen, HDL- and LDL-cholesterol, and 24-h urine 8-epi-prostaglandin F2alpha (8-epi-PGF2alpha) and 11-dehydro-thromboxane B2 (11-dehydro-TxB2) were also evaluated as biomarkers of potential harm. All the biomarkers examined, except for LDL-cholesterol, discriminated with high sensitivity and specificity between adult smokers and non-smokers overall. Except for HDL-cholesterol, all biomarker medians were greater in adult smokers than in non-smokers: urine nicotine-equivalents 64.514 versus < 0.034 nmol mg-1 creatinine (p<0.001), carboxyhaemoglobin 4.0 versus 0.4% saturation (p<0.001), hs-CRP 0.27 versus 0.12 mg dl-1 (p=0.05), fibrinogen 292 versus 248 mg dl-1 (p<0.001), HDL-cholesterol 46 versus 53 mg dl-1 (p=0.003), LDL-cholesterol 119 versus 109 mg dl-1 (p=0.18), urine 8-epi-PGF2alpha 1935 versus 1034 pg mg-1 creatinine (p<0.001) and urine 11-dehydro-TxB2 973 versus 710 pg mg-1 creatinine (p<0.001). All the biomarkers of exposure and most of the biomarkers of potential harm showed no time of sampling (by visit week) effect.

Noradrenaline-refractoriness in cultured glioma cells.

Rat glioma cells in culture (subclone C6-SK71) respond to 0.1 mM noradrenaline by a 100 fold elevation of the intracellular cyclic AMP concentration, and by a subsequent change in morphology. The glioma cells extend multiple processes to resemble the morphology of normal astrocytes in brain tissue. Evidence is presented that the responses are mediated by way of a beta-adrenergic receptor. Both the biochemical and the morphological responses to noradrenaline are visible within minutes, but the cells revert to the untreated condition within 8 hours. Addition of fresh noradrenaline does not alter the sequence of events. A refractory period in which neither effect could be evoked by a subsequent exposure to noradrenaline was observed to last about 50 hours and was not correlated with a change in the rate of cell growth.

Intracellular cyclic AMP concentration responds specifically to growth regulation by serum.

Intracellular concentrations of cyclic AMP increase when cells are deprived of serum. Studies with the mouse fibroblast line 3T3, an SV40-transformed subline of 3T3, and six different revertant lines derived from this clone show that a marked increase in cyclic AMP occurs only when the serum concentration is reduced below the minimum necessary for growth of a given line. Conversely, density-dependent inhibition of growth is not accompanied by an increase in cyclic AMP concentration in any line.