Facts about nicotine toxicity.

Nicotine is an alkaloid obtained from the leaves of the tobacco plant, and it is the main constituent of tobacco smoke. This review opens with physical and chemical properties of nicotine and with general considerations about the methods for determining nicotine and its metabolite cotinine. It summarises the data about acute and long-term toxicity of nicotine and also reviews its metabolism and kinetic data, types of exposure and the main recognised health effects, with special attention to reproductive, cardiovascular, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, immunological and genetic toxicity. The main focus is on hazardous exposure and risk estimation.