Abstract
We made so far some nutritional studies on smoking to find a few facts about the change of the activity of metabolic enzymes caused by the oral intake of nicotine. In this experiment we studied the influence of “smoking”, instead of the intake of nicotine, on the same enzymes. At the same time, we have investigated the relationships between the intake of protein and the degree of enzyme activity. Enzymes used in this experiment were transaminase, cholinesterase and xanthine oxidase; animals used were rats. We put the rats in a special box and sent smoke into it, and let them breathe in the smoke for some time. We repeated it every day for three weeks. The results obtained were as follows:
1. We found little change in the activity of xanthine oxidase.
2. The activity of transaminase (GOT, GPT) has declined in the case of slight smoking, but intensified in the case of heavy smoking.
3. The activity of cholinesterase was decreased, according to the increase of smoking.
4. High protein feeds were effective in preventing the loss of weight due to smoking.
5. High protein feeds were effective to the prevention of the decrease of enzyme activity only in the case of slight smoking.
We intend, in the future, to attend to the change of the activity of cholinesterase and using it as an indicator we are going to pursue the favorable nutritional conditions for smoking.
