Evidence That Cigarette Smoking Alters Alveolar Type I Cell Nuclear Fractal Dimension

Sotirios Maipas; Periklis G Foukas; Ioannis G Panayiotides; Ioannis Vamvakaris; Nikolaos Kavantzas

doi:10.7759/cureus.50254

Evidence That Cigarette Smoking Alters Alveolar Type I Cell Nuclear Fractal Dimension

Cureus. 2023 Dec 10;15(12):e50254. doi: 10.7759/cureus.50254. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Sotirios Maipas¹, Periklis G Foukas², Ioannis G Panayiotides², Ioannis Vamvakaris³, Nikolaos Kavantzas⁴

Affiliations

¹ First Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, GRC.
² Second Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, "Attikon" University Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, GRC.
³ Department of Pathology, "Sotiria" Athens Hospital, Athens, GRC.
⁴ First Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens General Hospital "Laikon", Athens, GRC.

Abstract

A large number of alveolar type I and II cells from the lungs of both smokers and non-smokers was collected using 40x magnification histological images from our digital archive. These images underwent a transformation into binary images of nuclear contours, followed by the application of the box-counting method. Statistical analysis revealed a significant difference in the mean box-counting dimension values between type I cells of smokers and non-smokers. However, no significant difference was observed in the mean fractal dimensions of alveolar type II cells. This study provides preliminary evidence of the impact of cigarette smoking on the nuclear shape of alveolar type I cells. Given the high toxicity of cigarette smoke to lung cells and the interconnection between morphology and function, further study is needed to understand its impact on the nuclear shape of these cells. Future research should also explore the effects of second-hand smoke on cell shape.

Keywords: alveolar type i cells; box-counting dimension; fractal dimension; lung; smoking.

Publication types

Editorial