Establishment of a Smoke Chamber for Exposure to Second-hand Smoke

Abstract

Background: With an ever-growing trend along with cheap and easy access to cigarettes, cigarette smoking has increased among people of all age groups from children to adults. Additionally, the number of people exposed to secondhand smoke (SHS) has also increased. Researchers are keenly studying the effects of smoking on the body of nonsmokers exposed to SHS. Even though various smoke chambers have been constructed to date for this purpose, still the available literature does not suffice to describe in detail the development of such chambers. The present study aimed to construct a low-priced and simple smoke chamber that ensures effective SHS studies and enhances reproducibility.

Material and methods: The paper briefly described all the key steps and materials involved in the construction of the smoke chamber. The chamber was constructed using things commonly found in households and laboratories. To check the efficacy of this chamber, an experiment was conducted on mice to study the effect of SHS on their kidneys by exposing them to cigarette smoke for 7 consecutive days. After the designated time, all the mice were dissected, and pieces/parts of the kidney were collected, excised, and further processed for histological sectioning and staining. In the end, the histological results of the experimental mice group were compared with those of the control group.

Results: The histological results showed visible alteration in the microarchitecture of mice kidneys on chronic exposure to SHS.

Conclusion: In light of the experimental results obtained, it can be concluded well that the smoke chamber is highly effective in carrying out SHS-based experiments on mice. Furthermore, a detailed description of all steps may further help in the reconstruction of the smoke chamber in a short time thus allowing the successful replication of similar types of work.