The Effect of Forced Inhalation of Tobacco Smoke on the Electrocardiogram of Normal and Tobacco-Sensitized Rabbits

¹ The Medical Service, Veterans Administration Hospital.

(1) Within the limits of these experiments it can only be stated that prior sensitization to tobacco protein does not appear to influence to any significant degree the cardiovascular response of rabbits to these various challenging situations, such as, forced tobacco smoke inhalation, asphyxiation, respiratory depression and exposure to tobacco protein extract.

(2) Anoxia, mediated through various channels, such as asphyxiation, respiratory depression, etc., appears to be the basic mechanism responsible for the death of the animals and for the electrocardiographic abnormalities in these experiments.

(3) These cardiovascular effecas demonstrated by abnormalities of the electrocardiogram: (a) probably are not due to any anaphylaxis; (b) probably do not represent in immunologic reaction of hypersensitivity; and (c) probably are not due to the pharmacologic effects of nicotine.

(4) In the rabbit, the mechanism of death due to anoxia, appears to be mediated by the development of various types and degrees of A-V bloc, A-V dissociation, sinus block, and eventual ventricular asystole.