Research section
13-Week inhalation toxicity study of menthol cigarette smoke

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0278-6915(97)00033-1Get rights and content

Abstract

Menthol is a common pharmaceutical, food and tobacco flavouring ingredient used for its minty characteristics and cooling effects. A 13-wk comparative nose-only smoke inhalation toxicity study was conducted using an American-style, cellulose acetate-filtered, non-menthol reference cigarette and a similarly blended test cigarette containing 5000 ppm synthetic /-menthol tobacco. Male and female Fischer 344 rats were exposed for 1 hr/day, 5 days/wk for 13 wk at target mainstream smoke particulate concentrations of 200, 600 or 1200 mg/m3, while control rats were exposed to filtered air. Internal dose biomarkers (blood carboxyhaemoglobin, serum nicotine and serum cotinine) indicated equivalent exposures were obtained for the two cigarettes. Effects typically noted in rats exposed to high levels cf mainstream tobacco smoke were similar for both cigarette types and included reduced body weights (males slightly more affected than females), increased heart-to-body weight ratios and lung weights, and histopathological changes in the respiratory tract. Rats exposed to reference cigarette smoke displayed a dose-related increase in nasal discharge that was not observed in menthol smokeexposed rats. All smoke-related effects diminished significantly during a 6-wk non-exposure recovery period. The results of this 13-wk smoke inhalation study indicated that the addition of 5000 ppm menthol to tobacco had no substantial effect on the character or extent of the biological responses normally associated with inhalation of mainstream cigarette smoke in rats.

References (26)

  • P.H. Ayres et al.

    Nose-only exposure of rats to carbon monoxide

    Inhalation Toxicology

    (1989)
  • H. Baumgartner et al.

    Description of a continuous-smoking inhalation machine for exposing small animals to tobacco smoke

    Beiträge zur Tabakforschung

    (1980)
  • E.M. Boyd et al.

    A bronchomucotropic action in rabbits from inhaled menthol and thymol

    Archives Internationales de Pharmacodynamie et de Thérapie

    (1969)
  • Cited by (63)

    • A 90-day OECD TG 413 rat inhalation study with systems toxicology endpoints demonstrates reduced exposure effects of the aerosol from the carbon heated tobacco product version 1.2 (CHTP1.2) compared with cigarette smoke. II. Systems toxicology assessment

      2018, Food and Chemical Toxicology
      Citation Excerpt :

      These measurements were further complemented by lipidomic profiling of lung tissues. Histopathological evaluation of the RNE showed commonly observed adaptive changes after CS exposure (Kogel et al., 2014; Gaworski et al., 1997; Vanscheeuwijck et al., 2002), with squamous cell metaplasia and basal cell hyperplasia as the most pronounced exposure effects. At a matching nicotine concentration between CHTP1.2 aerosol and CS (23 μg nicotine/L), CHTP1.2 aerosol induced less pronounced histological changes, with only the basal cell hyperplasia severity scores for the highest CHTP1.2 concentration (50 μg nicotine/L) approaching those of 3R4F (23 μg nicotine/L) in nose level 1.

    View all citing articles on Scopus

    Presented at the International Congress of Toxicology, 7th Meeting, 1–6 July 1995, Seattle, Washington, USA.

    View full text