Study of interaction of cigarette smoke with thiol (-SH) group of sulfhydryl proteins in smokers

The cigarette smoke contains more than 4000 chemical including 43 cancer causing carcinogens and more than 400 toxins these includes nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, nitric oxide and many others. Cigarette smoke oxidants cause oxidative damage and increases the protein oxidation by rapid proteolytic degradation of the oxidized proteins, as there is loss of thiol groups. The present study was planned to study interaction of thiol (-SH) of sulfhydryl proteins as well as lipid peroxidation by studying MDA, total antioxidant capacity and level of vitamin C. 30 smokers of smoking history 10 to 20 cigarettes per day were included in the study whereas 40 healthy non-smokers who never had smoked were served as healthy controls. The base line clinical investigations malondialdehyde (MDA), Sulfhydryl proteins (-SH), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) & vitamin C were measured. The results indicate that the total antioxidant capacity (TAC), vitamin C and sulfhydryl proteins (-SH) were low (p<0>