Abstract
The characteristics of plasma low-level chemiluminescence upon stimulation by exposure to cigarette smoke were studied. When rats were exposed to cigarette smoke for 3min, the plasma chemiluminescence after 20min showed a significant increase of about 3-fold compared with that in control rats, and the chemiluminescence decayed to the control level after 80min. The plasma chemiluminescence upon enhancement with cigarette smoke had maximum emission bands around 500-580nm, and the intensity was not dependent on the tar content of the cigarettes. Oral intake of carotenes had no effect, but plasma supplementation with sulfhydryl compounds such as cysteine and glutathione suppressed the cigarette smokeinduced chemiluminescence.
