CONCENTRATIONS OF NICOTINE IN THE PALATIN E TONSILS, UVULA, AND SEPTAL CARTILAGE OF CHRONIC SMOKERS - A PILOT-STUDY

The concentrations of nicotine were determined via radioimmunoassay in the palatine tonsils (n = 22) and in the mucosa of the uvula (n = 5) of eleven male smokers, and in the nasal septal cartilage of four othe r smokers. The same tissues of five nonsmokers served as controls. The values of the nicotine concentrations were 77 ng/g for the tonsils (l evel of serum: 151 ng/g), 114.5 ng/g for the mucosa of the uvula (leve l of serum: 215 ng/g) and 36 ng/g for the septal cartilage (level of s erum: 97 ng/g). Them was no nicotine in the tissues and serum of the c ontrol group. The correlations between the nicotine concentrations of the three tissues and the levels of the serum were significant. Anothe r significant correlation was found between the nicotine level of the serum and the daily consumption of cigarettes of the eleven patients o n whom tonsillectomy had been performed. These concentrations of nicot ine in the three types of tissue and in serum appear to be high after an interval of twelve hours non-smoking. With gas-chromatography/mass- spectrometry also unchanged nicotine was found in the tonsils which is considered to be the damaging substance of tobacco.