Acute effect of cigarette smoking on inflammatory markers in young moderate smokers: a potential model for studying the protective properties of food bioactives

Background: We recently documented that acute cigarette smoking is able to impair peripheral arterial function (reactive hyperemia index, RHI) in young healthy smokers. The intake of a single portion of blueberry counteracts this deleterious effect. The causes of this transient endothelial dysfunction may be related to an increase of oxidative stress and inflammation. Aim: This study aims to investigate whether the temporary impairment of vascular function evaluated through the acute experimental design may be correlated with the modulation of some markers of endothelial function and inflammation such as intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and interleukin-8 (IL-8). Methods: Sixteen young healthy volunteers participated in a crossover study. Three types of treatments were studied; 1) smoking (1 cigarette); 2) blueberry treatment (300 g of whole blueberries + smoking; 3) control treatment (300 mL of water and 27g of sugars; the same amount present in blueberry + smoking). Each condition was separated by a one week of wash-out period. Cigarette was smoked 1 h 45 min after blueberry or control drink consumption. RHI was measured by Endo-PAT2000 at the baseline and 20 min after. Blood samples were collected at baseline and after 20 min, 1 h, 1.30 h, 2 h and 24 h from smoking. Markers of inflammation and endothelial function were measured in serum by Bio-plex Pro TM Array. Results: Blueberry consumption, but not the control drink, counteracted the impairment of RHI (-4.4±0.8% blueberry treatment vs -22.0±1.1% smoking treatment, p<0.01). Preliminary results on a subgroup of 6 subjects showed an apparent increase in serum circulating levels of VEGF, ICAM-1, VCAM-1, 20 min from cigarette smoking, while a decrease occurred for IL-8 levels. Conclusions: In conclusion, blueberry consumption reverses the peripheral arterial dysfunction following acute cigarette smoking. The selected biomarkers modulated after smoking suggest their direct or indirect involvement in the transient process of endothelial dysfunction. The feasibility of the repeated measurements of such markers in the short term and the role of blueberry in their modulation will be discussed.