Effects of cigarette smoke and dietary vitamin E levels on selected lung and hepatic biotransformation enzymes in mice

Young male C57BL mice were exposed nose-only to cigarette smoke 20 min/day for 8 weeks while maintained on diets containing 0, 5, and 100 ppm of vitamin E. Smoking had no effect on hepatic aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH), UDP-glucuronyltransferase, glutathione S-transferase, parathion desulfurase, or parathion esterase activity. Lung AHH activity was increased in all smoke-exposed mice, although the increase was significantly less in animals maintained on the vitamin E-free diet. All mice on the vitamin E-free diet showed reduced lung AHH activity and increased hepatic lipid peroxidation. No other biotransformations tested were significantly altered by varying vitamin E concentrations alone or in combination with cigarette smoke. For all vitamin E diets, both the smoke-exposed and sham-treated mice gained significantly less weight than the control animals. This effect was attributed to stress induced by restraint of the animals within the smoking apparatus. The results of these experiments show that both cigarette smoke and vitamin E-deficient diets may affect xenobiotic metabolism but that the combination does not appear to alter markedly their individual effects or to induce ones not previously observed.