The effect of chronic exposure to tobacco smoke on the antibacterial defenses of the lung.

To evaluate the effects of cigarette smoking on the host defenses of the lung, male CD rats were exposed to fresh whole smoke for up to 60 consecutive days. Intrapulmonary deposition of smoke and animal exposure levels, quantified with decachlorobiphenyl and other smoke tracers, indicated a daily cigarette exposure equivalent to approximately a pack and a half per day in man. Pulmonary alveolar macrophage function in situ was quantified by the inactivation of an aerosolized challenge of Staphylococcus aureus six hours after inoculation. Controls (n=120) inactivated 88.8+/-0.64% of the staphylococci. Exposure to whole smoke did not impair intrapulmonary antistaphylococcal defenses, with inactivation rates of 89.8+/-0.97% (n=49) and 89.1+/-0.46% (n=74) at 30 and 60 days, respectively. Inactivation distribution frequency analysis in controls revealed that 7% of animals had inactivation values greater than two standard deviations from the mean. With prolonged exposure mean with less skewing towards the abnormal. Alveolar macrophages harvested from smoked animals were comparable in viability and in vitro antistaphylococcal activity to controls, appeared to be metabolically activated and had specific stereologic ultrastructural alterations. These studies indicate that chronic exposure to tobacco smoke does not impair, and in fact may stimulate, the host defenses of the lung, as evaluated by in vivo and in vitro pulmonary alveolar macrophage function.