Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Anti-inflammatory and antithrombotic effects of nicotine exposure in oral contraceptive-induced insulin resistance are glucocorticoid-independent.

BACKGROUND: Reports showed that estrogen-progestin oral contraceptive (COC) or tobacco smoking causes increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in premenopausal women. Studies also suggest that nicotine, a major tobacco alkaloid, may worsen or improve atherothrombotic CVD. Altered hemorheology, prothrombotic and pro-inflammatory biomarkers, have been implicated in the development of atherothrombotic CVD events. However, the effect of non-smoking nicotine exposure on these biomarkers during COC treatment is not yet established. We therefore sought to determine the effects of nicotine exposure during COC treatment on these biomarkers, and also tested the hypothesis that the nicotine effects would be glucocorticoid-dependent.

METHODS: Female Sprague-Dawley rats aged 10 weeks were given (po) vehicle, low-dose nicotine (0.1mg/kg) or high-dose nicotine (1.0mg/kg) with or without COC steroids (5.0μg/kg ethinylestradiol and 25.0μg/kg levonorgestrel) daily for 6 weeks.

RESULTS: COC treatment or nicotine exposure led to increased insulin resistance (IR), hemorheological (blood viscosity, hematocrit and plasma viscosity), prothrombotic (plasminogen activator inhibitor-1), pro-inflammatory (uric acid, C-reactive protein, neutrophil/lymphocyte and platelet/lymphocyte ratios) biomarkers and corticosterone. However, these effects except that on corticosterone were abrogated by nicotine exposure during COC treatment.

CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicates that nicotine- or COC-induced IR may be mediated via inflammatory/thrombotic pathway. The results imply that nicotine exposure could impact negatively on atherothrombotic biomarkers in COC non-users, whereas the impact in COC users could be positive. The results also suggest that the anti-inflammatory, antithrombotic and blood viscosity-lowering effects of nicotine exposure during COC use is circulating glucocorticoid-independent.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app