Nicotine has no effect on the metabolism of exogenous arachidonic acid or prostaglandin E2 in isolated perfused rat and hamster lungs.

14C-labelled arachidonic acid and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) were infused into the pulmonary circulation of isolated rat and hamster lungs, and the radioactive metabolites were analysed from the nonrecirculating perfusion effluent by thin-layer chromatography. Pulmonary infusion of nicotine (1 or 10 microM for 5 min) did not interfere with the metabolite pattern of arachidonic acid or the metabolism of PGE2 by 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase. Nicotine seems not to be responsible for the previously reported cigarette smoke-induced alterations in the pulmonary metabolism of exogenous arachidonic acid and PGE2.