Investigations of cigarette smoke dosages in inhalation experiments with Syrian hamsters. II. Uptake of cigarette smoke by the animals; comparisons of the influence of the gas phase and the whole smoke of different cigarettes.
An increased CO2 content (CO2 enrichment) in the smoke-air mixture was measured in an inhalation chamber containing Syrian hamsters. Since these additional CO2 concentrations originated from the animals' expiratory air, the level of CO2 (CO2 enrichment) was considered a function of the respiratory capacity. Results obtained with this method of characterizing the respiratory behavior of hamsters in inhalation experiments led us to conclude that the vapor phase of cigarettes reduced respiration up to 45% and the whole smoke, up to 60%. Qualitative and quantitative differences in the composition of the vapor phase and particulate phase as offered in animal inhalation experiments for comparing different cigarettes did not induce measurable differences in the respiratory behavior. Therefore, such inhalation experiments were found to be suitable for comparing the relative effects of different cigarette types. Estimations on the inhaled amounts of TPM led to results that were similar to those obtained in experiments with radioactively labeled smoke.