Passive smoking and platelet thromboxane

While active smoking is known to enhance platelet thromboxane production, no data on passive smoking is available yet. The influence of single and repeated exposure to passive smoke for 60 minutes in a 18 m(3) room was assessed in non-smokers as compared to sex and age matched smokers. All the evaluated measures (malondialdehyde, plasma thromboxane B-2, 11-dehydro-thromboxane B-2, serum thromboxane B-2 conversion of exogenous arachidonic acid to thromboxane B-2 and to hydroxy-5, 8,10-heptadecatrienoic acid) were higher in smokers than non-smokers at baseline, immediately and 6 hours after passive exposure to cigarette smoke. Repeated exposure of non-smokers rendered their platelets more activated becoming close to the behaviour of smokers. These results indicate that passive smoking may activate thromboxane A(2) release from the platelets, contributing to the development of hemostatic imbalance.