Figure 1.

Glycotoxins in tobacco leaf extract and cigarette smoke condensate promote AGE formation in vitro. The in vitro AGE formation assay was performed on aqueous extracts of tobacco leaves from eight different brands of American cigarettes at a concentration equivalent to 90 mg of tobacco/ml (A) and on mainstream tobacco smoke at concentrations ranging from 3 to 0.375 g of tobacco/ml (B). Each bar represents a different brand of American cigarettes. Brand E is the light brand equivalent of brand D. AGE formation was revealed by incubation with a rabbit anti-AGE-specific polyclonal antibody. (C) AGE formation was inhibited by passing the mainstream cigarette smoke through a standard commercial filter + 500 mg of aminoguanidine (open bar) but not by passing it through a standard commercial filter (solid bar) or a standard commercial filter + 500 mg of sodium sulfate (striped bar).