Effects of Oral Administration of N-Acetyl-l-cysteine: A Multi-Biomarker Study in Smokers

DOI: Published February 2002

Article Figures & Data

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Fig. 1.
Flow diagram of the study.
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Fig. 2.
Correlation between plasma cotinine levels in the NAC (r = 0.7, P = 0.009) and placebo (r = 0.7, P = 0.005) groups at time 0 (T₀) and after 6 months (T₁).
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Fig. 3.
Dependency of exposure to NAC in modulating BAL cell lipophilic-DNA adducts.

Table 1

Characteristics of the study population^a

Table 2

Summary of paired data of the quantified biomarkers in NAC and placebo groups at pre- and postintervention times

	NAC group Mean ± SE					Placebo group Mean ± SE
		n	T₀	T₁	n	T₀	T₁
Cotinine (plasma) (μg/l)	15	445 ± 57	467 ± 56	16	510 ± 47	469 ± 39
Cotinine (BAL fluid; μg/l)	11	1788 ± 315	3678 ± 1793	14	2527 ± 480	1794 ± 291^a
Urine mutagenicity (×1000 revertants)	6	154 ± 36	133 ± 18	11	153 ± 24	121 ± 19
4-ABP-Hb adducts (ng/g Hb)	16	0.21 ± 0.02	0.20 ± 0.02	16	0.23 ± 0.02	0.26 ± 0.02
Lipophilic-DNA adducts (PBL;/10⁸ nucleotides)	15	1.46 ± 0.1	2.50 ± 0.5	16	1.46 ± 0.2	2.52 ± 0.3^b
Lipophilic-DNA adducts (BAL cells; /10⁸ nucleotides)	10	6.01 ± 0.9	4.25 ± 0.8^c	10	6.03 ± 0.7	5.9 ± 0.7
8-OH-dG adducts (BAL cells; 10⁵ nucleotides)	3	4.9 ± 0.7	1.8 ± 0.3^d^,e	3	4.8 ± 0.5	3.2 ± 0.8
PAH-DNA adducts (MFCs; Nucleic stain density)	12	0.04 ± 0.01	0.06 ± 0.01	14	0.05 ± 0.01	0.05 ± 0.01
PAH-DNA adducts (BMCs; Nucleic stain density)	9	0.06 ± 0.01	0.05 ± 0.01	13	0.06 ± 0.01	0.07 ± 0.01
Micronuclei (MFCs; %)	15	1.3 ± 0.3	0.9 ± 0.3^f	15	1.2 ± 0.3	1.0 ± 0.2
Micronuclei (SPCs; %)	15	1.3 ± 0.2	0.9 ± 0.2	15	1.4 ± 0.2	1.5 ± 0.2
TEAC (plasma; μm/l)	16	393 ± 14	473 ± 19	16	387 ± 11	450 ± 12^g
TEAC (BAL fluid; μm/l)	11	2043 ± 254	1806 ± 271	14	1703 ± 203	1777 ± 272

^a Statistically significant as compared with the placebo group at T₀, P = 0.05.
^b Statistically significant as compared with the placebo group at T₀, P = 0.01.
^c Statistically significant as compared with the NAC group at T₀, P = 0.05.
^d Statistically significant as compared with the placebo group at T₁, P = 0.03.
^e Statistically significant as compared with the NAC group at T₀, P = 0.003.
^f Statistically significant as compared with the NAC group at T₀, P = 0.05.
^g Statistically significant as compared with the placebo group at T₀, P = 0.008.