Cigarette smoking has been established as a major risk factor for atherosclerosis and also for lung cancer. Nicotine is one of the major toxic components of cigarette smoke that is believed to be partly responsible for the deleterious effect of cigarette smoke. Alcohol intake is another major risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease. Lipid peroxidation is a process associated with the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The concentration of lipid peroxides is found to be increased in alcohol-treated rats. On nicotine administration along with alcohol, an additive effect was observed in lipid peroxidation and the antioxidant defence mechanism. The activity of scavenging enzymes superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione reductase was found to be decreased, while the activity of glutathione peroxidase and the concentration of glutathione were increased.
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P. L. Vijayammal (1996) studied this question.