碧萝芷Pycnogenol(对抽烟人士的排毒与帮助.doc

碧蘿芷Pycnogenol對抽煙人士的排毒與幫助Pycnogenol1, a useful food supplement for smokersP. Rohdewald1Pycnogenol, French maritime pine bark extract, (Horphag Research Sales Ltd.)Most educated smokers know about the dangers of smoking, however, the addiction to nicotine makes it very difficult to quit smoking.To remember: a large number of epidemiological studies have linked cigarette smoking to cardiovascular diseases, stroke, lung carcinoma, chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema (Tnnesen and Vermeire, 2000). Smoking also increases the incidence of age related macular degeneration, the most common cause of irreversible blindness (Chan, 1998). Smoking exacerbates asthma and diabetes (Traber et al., 2000). Smoking also increases the risk of cancers of larynx, oral cavity, oesophagus, pancreas, urinary bladder and lung (Nair and Brandt, 2000). Whereas addiction to cigarette smoking has been attributed to nicotine, which itself is not considered to be carcinogenic, the toxicity and carcinogenicity results from byproducts developing during combustion of tobacco (Tnnesen and Vermeire, 2000). Cigarette smoke is a complex mixture of more than 4700 chemicals, including high concentration of free radicals and other oxidants (Bluhm et al., 1971; Church and Pryor, 1985). Cigarette smoke contains free radicals in both the gas and the tar phase. Free radicals in the gas phase, however, are highly reactive and are extremely difficult to inactivate in cigarette filters. Free radicals from cigarette smoke have been indicated in the pathogenesis of smoking induced lung disease, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema and lung cancer (Rahman and MacNee, 1996). Free radicals from cigarette smoke play a role in enhancing inflammation in smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, through the activation of transcription factors regulating expression of pro-inflammatory mediators and protective antioxidant gene expression (MacNee, 2000).One possibility to reduce the dangers of smoking when all attempts to stop smoking failed is to eliminate or to reduce the dangerous free radicals from tobacco smoke before inhalation. Tests with cigarettes containing Pycnogenol in the filter were successful. Pycnogenol cigarette filters depleted free radicals in a dose dependent manner. This was paralleled by a reduction of toxicity and mutagenicity in rodent test models (table 1). In this model system, the acute toxicity of cigarette smoke was markedly reduced by up to 70 % in rodents with 0.4 mg Pycnogenol in filter. Chronic exposure to cigarette smoke for 75 days revealed that Pycnogenol filters significantly reduced mutagenicity by up to 48% (table 2) and decreased pathological changes in lung tissue (Zhang et al., 2002). Unfortunately, cigarettes containing Pycnogenol in the filter are only available in Peoples Republic of China.But even when the smoker has no access to cigarettes containing Pycnogenol inside the filter, the intake of Pycnogenol helps to reduce some of the many unwanted effects of smoking. The dangerous action of the free radicals inhaled by the smoker could be counteracted by Pycnogenol in several ways. First of all, Pycnogenol is a powerful scavenger of free radicals and, able to inactivate all kinds of free radicals (Elstner and Kleber 1990). In a second wave of defense, Pycnogenol stimulates the synthesis of antioxidative substances inside bodys own cells, (Wei et al, 1997, Bayeta et al, 2000, Maritime et al, 2003) thus reinforcing the power of the cells to inactivate free radicals. A study with German and American smokers could demonstrate that intake of Pycnogenol before smoking prevented completely the smoking-associated clumping of blood platelets (Fig. 1), which may lead to thrombosis, emboli, heart infarction or stroke (Ptter et al, 1999).Smoking doubles the output of the stress hormone adrenaline, which causes constriction of blood vessels and, consequently, increase of blood pressure (Blache et al, 1992). Pycnogenol protects the cardio-vascular system by its positive influence on the cells of the vascular wall, so that less substances are produced which constrict the arteries and more products are formed dilating the arteries (Liu et al, 2004; Watson 1999). Supplementation with Pycnogenol has to be shown to lower elevated blood pressure in men (Araghi-Nicknam et al., 1999).The chronic exposure of the lung to cigarette smoke may cause a chronic inflammation of the lung. The so-called smokers-cough, in medical terms chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) results from inflammatory cells, invading the bronchi and secreting proteolytic enzymes. These proteases destroy slowly, but continuously lung cells, thus reducing the ability for uptake of oxygen. Finally, the loss of active lung cells leads to emphysema formation and invalidity. Again, stop smoking is the only way to avoid these deleterious consequences of smoking. However, for the addicted smoker, the inhibition of the tissue-destroying proteases presents a way to slow down the progress of the disease. Pycnogenol has been shown to inhibit the activity of proteases and to inhibit the release of proteases from the inflammatory cells (Fig. 2).COPD is also characterized by an imbalance between inhaled oxidants and antioxidants contained in lung cells. This imbalance, or oxidative stress, may play a role in many of the processes involved in COPD (Mac Nee, 2005). Antioxidant therapy therefore should be a logical therapeutic approach in COPD. Potent antioxidant as Pycnogenol may present useful supplements for patients suffering from the continuous oxidative stress of smoking.Summarizing the effects of Pycnogenol as an inactivator of free radicals, as a protector of the vascular system and as an agent to inhibit lung tissue destroying proteases, this versatile natural product is not only helpful for persons exposed to cigarette smoke passive smokers but even more for those not able to stop smoking.References:1. Tnnesen P. and Vermeire P.A. Promoting a future without tobacco: also a continuing task for respiratory medicine in Europe. European Respiratory Journal 16: 1031-1034, 2000.2. Chan D. Cigarette smoking and age related macular degeneration. Optometry and Vision Science 75: 476-484, 1998.3. Traber M.G., van der Vliet A., Teznick A.Z. and Cross C.E. Tobacco-related diseases. Is there a role for antioxidant micronutrient supplementation. Clinic in Chest Medicine 21: 173-187, 2000. 4. Nair A.K. and Brandt E.N. Effects of smoking on health care costs. Journal of Oklahoma State Medical Association 93: 245-250, 2000.5. Bluhm A.C., Weinstein J. and Sousa J.A. Free radicals in tobacco smoke. Nature 229: 5000, 1971.6. Rahman I. and MacNee W. Role of oxidants/antioxidants in smoking-induced lung diseases. Free Radical Biology and Medicine 21: 669-681, 1996.7. MacNee W. Oxidants/antioxidants and COPD. Chest 117 (5 Suppl 1), 303S-17S, 2000.8. Zhang D., Tao Y., Gao J., Zhang C., Wan A., Chen Y., Huang X., Sun X., Duan S., Schnlau F., Rohdewald P. and Zhao B. Pycnogenol in cigarette filters scavenges free radicals and reduces mutagenicity and toxicity of tobacco smoke in vivo. Toxicol & Industr Health 18: 215-224, 2002.9. Elstner E.F., Kleber E. Radical scavenger properties of leucocyanidine. Proc 3rd Int Symposium on Flavonoids in Biology & Medicine, Singapore, 221-235, 1990.10. Wei Z.H., Peng Q.L., Lau B.H.S. Pycnogenol enhances endothelial cell antioxidant defences. Redox Report 3: 219-224, 1997.11. Bayeta E., Benjamin M.S. and Lau B.H.S. Pycnogenol inhibits generation of inflammatory mediators in macrophages. Nutrition Research 20: 249-259, 2000.12. Maritim A., Dene B.A., Sanders R.A. and Watkins J.B. Effects of Pycnogenol treatment on oxidative stress in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. Journal of Biochemie & Molecular Toxicology 17: 193-199, 2003. 13. Ptter M., Grotemeyer K.H.M., Wrthwein G., Araghi-Niknam M., Watson R.R., Hosseini S. and Rohdewald P. Inhibition of smoking-induced platelet aggregation by Aspirin and Pycnogenol. Thrombosis Research 95:155-161, 1999.14. Blache D., Bouthillier D. and Davignon J. Acute influence of smoking on platelet behavior, endothelium and plasma lipids and normalization by aspirin. Atherosclerosis 93: 179-188, 1992.15. Liu X., Wei J., Tan F., Zhou S., Wrthwein G. and Rohdewald P. Pycnogenol, French maritime pine bark extract, improves endothelial function of hypertensive patients. Life Sciences 74: 855-862, 2004. 16. Watson R.R. Reduction of cardiovascular disease risk factors by French maritime pine bark extract. Cardiovasc Rev Rep 20: 326-329, 1999.17. Araghi-Niknam M., Hosseini S., Larson D., Rohdewald P., Watson R.R. Pine bark extract reduces platelet aggregation. Integrative Medicine 2 (2/3): 73-77, 1999.18. MacNee W. Treatment of stable COPD: antioxidants. Eur Respir Rev 14 (94): 12-22, 2005.Table 1:Mutagenicity of cigarette smoke condensate of filter cigarette and its inhibition by Pycnogenol-containing filterCigarette with normal filterCondensate(mg / culture)Mutation rate(number / culture)Inhibition rate%5029.2 3.7615038.7 5.4750067.2 8.11Cigarette filter with 0.12 mg Pycnogenol5028.2 4.763.515034.6 9.54X11.9500 49.6 11.41XX35.4Cigarette filter with 0.4 mg Pycnogenol5026.5 2.90X10.115031.8 6.10XX21.650048.4 8.60XX39.5Significant