The Effects of Smoking Flashcards
What are the bad chemicals that cigarettes contain?
Tar (containing carcinogens), carbon monoxide and nicotine.
What does Tar do?
Tar sits on airway and alveoli linings, increases diffuse distance. May also cause an allergic reaction, smooth muscle in airways contracts, lumen gets smaller restricting airflow. Also paralyses cilia so cannot move mucus away. Also stimulate goblet cells to release more mucus. Bacteria may be caught in mucus, increasing susceptibility to influenza and pneumonia.
What is Smoker’s Cough and what does it do?
Tar sits on airway and alveoli linings, increases diffuse distance. May also cause an allergic reaction, smooth muscle in airways contracts, lumen gets smaller restricting airflow. Also paralyses cilia so cannot move mucus away. Also stimulate goblet cells to release more mucus. Bacteria may be caught in mucus, increasing susceptibility to influenza and pneumonia.
What do infections stuck in the mucus of the airways do?
Infections damage airways, especially epithelium. White blood cells attracted - to fight pathogens. Have to get from blood to airways, using enzymes. Digest lining of lungs. Elastase is used, which damages elastic tissue of the lungs – more prominent in small bronchioles and alveoli. As exhalation occurs, walls do not recoil to push air out. Bronchioles collapse, trapping air in alveoli. Alveoli burst as pressure increases.
What are the effects of Lung Cancer?
Benzopyrene harmful chemical in cigarettes. Enter cells of lung tissue. Effects genetic material of cells. Cells mutate, and uncontrolled division may take place. Often start at entrance to bronchi – 20-30 years to develop, and may take years for discovery.
What is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease?
It’s a combination of diseases, including bronchitis and emphysema.
What is chronic bronchitis and what are the symptoms?
Inflammation of lining of airways. Cilia also damaged, and mucus is also over-produced. Symptoms: Irritation to lungs, continual coughing, coughing up mucus.
What is Emphysema and what are the symptoms?
Loss of elasticity, causing alveoli to burst. Reduced surface area for gaseous exchange. Symptoms – short of breath, breathing is shallow and more rapid. Blood may be less well oxygenated, leading to fatigue.
What are the symptoms of Lung Cancer?
Continual coughing/shortness of breath. Pain in chest, blood coughed up.
