The carcinogenic effect of cigarette smoke. The effect of cigarette smoke on human gastric mucosal cells in organ culture.

The carcinogenic effect of cigarette smoke on certain organs is well established epidemiologically, but the evidence in relation to gastric carcinoma is inconclusive. The present study reports the effect of cigarette smoke condensate (CSC) on gastric mucosa grown in organ culture and its effect is compared with that of the known gastric carcinogen, N-methyl-N1-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (NG). Viability of the cells was assessed by the uptake of labelled glucose and glycine. It was found that, as gauged by lactate and beta-glucuronidase production into the ambient fluid, CSC produced a response typical of malignancy that did not differ from that with NG.