Tobacco cigarette smoke aggravates gastric ulcer in rats by attenuation of ulcer margin hyperemia.

We tested the hypothesis that attenuation of the hyperemia at the margin of acetic acid-induced gastric ulcer in rats by tobacco cigarette smoke will increase the size of the ulcer in the acute and the healing stages. Compared with the adjacent mucosa, blood flow measured by hydrogen gas clearance at the ulcer margin was significantly higher (ulcer margin hyperemia). Tobacco cigarette smoke and subcutaneous nicotine but not nicotine-free smoke from non-tobacco cigarettes significantly attenuated the ulcer margin hyperemia in a dose-related fashion. Repeated exposure of the rats to tobacco cigarette smoke increases ulcer size in the acute and the healing stages. Subcutaneous nicotine but not nicotine-free smoke also increased the size of ulcers in the acute stage. These results indicate that the nicotine in tobacco cigarette smoke may be responsible in part for its adverse effects. We conclude that attenuation of the hyperemia at the ulcer margin is a plausible explanation for the mechanism of the adverse effect of the tobacco cigarette smoke on experimental gastric ulcers in rats.