Nano-Green Cigarettes: using the Nano-Sized Non-Toxic nascent Oxygen Yielding (NSNTOY) Agents

doi: 10.5138/ijcmb.v1i1.201

Abstract

The Carcinogenic hazards of tobacco smoking are well established and are mainly ascribed to the presence of Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) and other Poly-Aromatic Hydrocarbons(PAH) responsible for bronchogenic carcinoma, leukaemia and lung cancer. A novel Nano-sized Non-Toxic Nascent Oxygen Yielding (NSNTOY) Agent impregnated Tobacco cigarettes (Nano-Green Cigarettes) have been prepared by sol-gel method using precursors of Potassium permanganate and Potassium oxalate. The tobacco leaves of an Indian commercial filter-tipped cigarette were taken out, leaving the outer paper intact. The tobacco leaves were sprayed with a fixed quantity of solutions of NSNTOY Agents in increasing concentrations and the leaves were air dried and reconstituted as Nano-Green Cigarettes. The effect of NSNTOY Agents in reducing the BaP content of the cigarette smoke have been studied by HPLC method. The decrease in tumorigenesis has been evaluated by the Ames assay. During cigarette smoking, these agents provide nascent oxygen intrinsically by thermal autolysis which is necessary for the effective combustion of the PAH’s present in Cigarette smoke into much simpler non-aromatic and non-tumorigenic compounds. The BaP content and the tumorigenic potential of the Nano-Green Cigarettes Smoke have been found to be reduced upto 80% of the control group of Cigarettes. The NSNTOY Agent incorporated Nano-Green cigarettes prove to be a feasible option as it hits the weakest point in the chain of carcinogenesis. It decreases the very production of one of the biggest group of carcinogens, namely the Poly-Aromatic Hydrocarbons.

Keywords: Carcinogenic; leukaemia; NSNTOY; tumorigenesis