EFFECT OF CIGARETTE SMOKE ON THE PERIPHERAL VASCULAR SYSTEM

Abstract

The inhalation of tobacco smoke will produce vasoconstriction because, chiefly, of its nicotine content. Roth¹ states that from 2.5 to 3 mg. of nicotine are absorbed from the lungs when a standard cigarette weighing approximately 1 gm. is smoked. She devised a test that showed that two cigarettes smoked in succession produced a drop in the skin temperature of a finger. The decrease in skin temperature was considered indicative of the vasoconstriction produced by smoking. According to her figures, therefore, it can be assumed that each person tested received from 5 to 6 mg. of nicotine during the time required to smoke two cigarettes. Roth states that, when nicotine is injected intravenously in 2 mg. quantities, the degree of drop in skin temperature is much more rapid and definite than that which follows the smoking of two standard cigarettes. Obviously the effects of nicotine obtained from smoking and from