Smoking and Carbon Monoxide Uptake as a Risk Factor in Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease

For many years nicotine has been considered responsible for the association between tobacco smoking and the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, due to its pronounced pharmacological effects on the cardiovascular system. In animal experiments, however, nicotine has no atherogenic effect when administered in amounts relatively much higher than the nicotine uptake by a smoker, but may cause necrosis and calcifications of the medial arterial layers (1), which suggests probable importance in the development of the Monckeberg type of arteriosclerosis in man.