Effects of flavoring and casing ingredients on the toxicity of mainstream cigarette smoke in rats.

A series of in vitro and in vivo studies evaluated the potential effects of tobacco flavoring and casing ingredients. Study 1 utilized as a reference control cigarette a typical commercial tobacco blend without flavoring ingredients, and a test cigarette containing a mixture of 165 low-use flavoring ingredients. Study 2 utilized the same reference control cigarette as used in study 1 and a test cigarette containing eight high-use ingredients. The in vitro Ames Salmonella typhimurium assay did not show any increase in mutagenicity of smoke condensate from test cigarettes designed for studies 1 and 2 as compared to the reference. Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed by nose-only inhalation for 1 h/day, 5 days/wk for 13 wk to smoke from the test or reference cigarettes already described, or to air only, and necropsied after 13 wk of exposure or following 13 wk of recovery from smoke exposure. Exposure to smoke from reference or test cigarettes in both studies induced increases in blood carboxyhemoglobin ((COHb)) and plasma nicotine, decreases in minute volume, differences in body or organ weights compared to air controls, and a concentration-related hyperplasia, squamous metaplasia, and inflammation in the respiratory tract. All these effects were greatly decreased or absent following the recovery period. Comparison of rats exposed to similar concentrations of test and reference cigarette smoke indicated no difference at any concentration. In summary, the results did not indicate any consistent differences in toxicologic effects between smoke from cigarettes containing the flavoring or casing ingredients and reference cigarettes.