The effect of cigarette smoke on human oral polymorphonuclear leukocytes

A group of smokers and a group of non‐smokers were the participants in this study The groups were matched by age and gingival health. Oral polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) were harvested from the subjects by saline mouth rinses. These PMN were tested for their ability to phagocytize latex spheres and to exclude trypan blue. Tests were performed for smokers and non‐smokers on three consecutive days, with identical procedures except that every participant smoked one cigarette on the second day immediately prior to cell collection, PMN harvested from the oral cavities of smokers were less vital as measured with the dye exclusion test and were less able to phagocytize particles on each experimental day. Smoking one cigarette immediately prior to cell collection resulted in a further decrease of these parameters for both smokers and non‐smokers.