Abstract
In this study, the possible effects of smoking on plasma and erythrocyte antioxidant status were investigated. For this purpose, thiobarbituric acid reagent substances (TBARS) and antioxidant potential (AOP) values were measured in both erythrocyte and plasma samples before and after five cigarettes smoked at fasting. AOP and TBARS levels were measured in non-smokers as well, to be used as a control group. We found that TBARS levels were higher in both plasma and erythrocyte samples and AOP levels lower in erythrocyte but unchanged in plasma samples from smokers as compared with non-smokers. After cigarette smoking, no meaningful changes were observed in TBARS and AOP values of plasma but both TBARS and AOP values increased in erythrocytes of the smoker group. The results suggest that chronic smoking causes peroxidation reactions in both plasma and erythrocytes, and acute smoking induces oxidation reactions in erythrocytes, even though AOP also elevates as a compensatory mechanism. In contrast to chronic smoking, acute smoking leads to changes neither in plasma TBARS nor in plasma AOP values.