Effects of cigarette smoke, carbon monoxide and nicotine on the uptake of fibrinogen by the canine arterial wall.

An animal model has been used to investigate the effects of cigarette smoke, carbon monoxide and nicotine on the uptake of 125I-labelled fibrinogen by the arterial wall. The uptake of fibrinogen in the smoking group (5.5 +/- 2.8 counts.cm-2 x 10(-4)) and carbon monoxide group (6.1 +/- 2.7 counts.cm-2 x 10(-4)) was greater than the uptake in the control group (4.5 +/- 1.4 counts.cm-2 x 10(-4)) but this difference was not significant. In the nicotine group, there was a highly significant increase in wall uptake of 125I-fibrinogen (9.1 +/- 2.1 counts.cm-2 x 10(-4)) (P less than or equal to 0.001). These results suggest that nicotine, a major constituent of cigarette smoke, increases the retention of 125I-fibrinogen by the arterial wall and that this might be one mechanism by which cigarette smoking exerts its atherogenic effect.