Effects of tobacco smoke compounds on the ciliary activity of the embryo chicken trachea in vitro.

The ciliotoxicity of 316 individual compounds representative of the gaseous and semivolatile phases of tobacco smoke has been investigated using chicken tracheal organ cultures. When examined at 5 mM concentration and measuring the time to complete ciliostasis, 36% of the compounds were found to cause ciliostasis within 15 min, while about 50% had no visible effect on the ciliary activity during a 60-min exposure. The majority of the ciliotoxic compounds were either alkylated phenylethers, benzonitriles, benzaldehydes, phenols, benzenes, naphthalenes and indoles, or alpha, beta-unsaturated ketones and aldehydes or C6-C10 aliphatic alcohols, aldehydes, acids and nitriles. Most of the compounds classified as benzoic acids, esters, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, amines and N-heterocycles, except indoles, were found to be inactive.