http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4219254.stm
Last Updated: Friday, 9 September 2005, 23:28 GMT 00:28 UK
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Smoking 'harms key lung enzyme'
Smoking can damage health
Smoking appears to reduce a key enzyme in the lungs which helps regulate
blood pressure, research suggests.
The researchers used sophisticated scans and a chemical tracer to show
levels of the enzyme monoamine oxidase were 50% lower in the lungs of smokers.
It is thought that reduced levels of the enzyme could impair lung
function, as well as blood pressure control.
The study, by the US government's Brookhaven National Laboratory, appears
in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.
We already know that smoking is enormously harmful to many
different body systems, and this might help to show how it is damaging to blood
pressure
Dr John Moore-Gillon
Lead researcher Dr Joanna Fowler said: "The effects of smoking on human
health are enormous; yet, little is known about the pharmacologic effects of
smoking on the human body apart from the effects of nicotine."
The researchers analysed monoamine oxidase (MAO A) levels in the body's
of nine smokers and nine non-smokers.
The scans revealed that levels of the enzyme were similar in all of the
peripheral organs of both groups - except the lungs.
Analysis also revealed that smokers' lungs held onto the tracer chemical
much longer than non-smokers, and the delivery of tracer into the arterial
blood supply was much lower for smokers, particularly for the first few minutes
after being injected.
This finding could imply that smokers and non-smokers respond differently
to other substances that enter the body via the bloodstream - including
therapeutic drugs, anaesthetics and abused substances.
Dr Fowler said: "The role played by MAO in other conditions associated
with smoking may also be significant and deserves further investigation,
considering the differences observed in the enzyme level between smokers and
non-smokers."
Another piece in jigsaw
Dr John Moore-Gillon, president of the British Lung Foundation, said: "It
is a very interesting piece of research, which provides another piece in the
jigsaw.
"We already know that smoking is enormously harmful to many different
body systems, and this might help to show how it is damaging to blood
pressure."
Dr Moore-Gillon said it was already known that nicotine constricted the
blood vessels - and thus tended to raise blood pressure.
He said smoking was also known to damage the balance of different enzymes
responsible for maintaining the tissues of the lung in a healthy state.
Smoking also damaged the lining of the lungs, causing them to secrete
excessive amounts of mucus which could lead to chronic bronchitis.
In addition, damage to the ability of cells to multiply and repair
themselves could lead to lung cancer, he said.
Judy O'Sullivan, a cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation said:
"While this study is small in size, it adds weight to the existing and
overwhelming evidence that smokers are risking their health and even their
lives by continuing with their deadly habit.
"We cannot emphasise enough the need for smokers to stop smoking to
protect themselves from premature death and disability."
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