Toxicological interaction between tobacco smoke toxicants cadmium and nicotine: An in-vitro investigation

Wajhul Qamar; Mohammad A Altamimi; Muneeb U Rehman; Nemat Ali; Faisal Imam; Fawaz Essa Alanazi

doi:10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.05.015

Toxicological interaction between tobacco smoke toxicants cadmium and nicotine: An in-vitro investigation

Saudi J Biol Sci. 2021 Aug;28(8):4201-4209. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.05.015. Epub 2021 May 11.

Authors

Wajhul Qamar¹, Mohammad A Altamimi², Muneeb U Rehman³, Nemat Ali⁴, Faisal Imam⁴, Fawaz Essa Alanazi⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Central Laboratory, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Cigarettes and other tobacco products are used to obtain nicotine that is responsible for their stimulating effects. However, a lot of other organic and inorganic chemicals are also released along with nicotine. Cadmium (Cd) is one of the several heavy metals that are health hazards and is one of the inorganic elements released in tobacco smoke. The in-vitro investigation focused on exploring the effects of nicotine hydrogen tartrate (NHT) and cadmium (Cd) and their toxic interactions in the A549 cell line. In cell viability assay NHT exhibited its IC₅₀ at 11.71 mM concentration, and the IC₅₀ of Cd was found to be 83 µM after a 24 h exposure. Toxic effects of NHT (5 mM and 10 mM), Cd (50 µM and 100 µM), and their combination were also investigated by flowcytometry. The investigation included apoptotic and necrotic events, the effect on different cell cycle phases, and generation of reactive oxygen species by NHT, Cd, and their combination of different concentrations. Data reveal evident toxic effects of NHT, Cd, and NHT + Cd. It also indicates that the toxic interaction of NHT and Cd is not additive and appears to be minimal when compared with NHT or Cd exposures alone.

Keywords: A549; Cadmium; Lung toxicity; Nicotine; Smoking.