Wang, Rui2005-01-102013-01-042005-02-032013-01-042004-122004-12-15December 2http://hdl.handle.net/10388/etd-01102005-115716Our study investigated the potential for a combination of diabetes and nicotine treatment to affect blood pressure in the rat. We used streptozotocin injection and oral nicotine feeding as models of type-1 diabetes and smoking respectively. Blood pressure was assessed using the indirect tail-cuff technique. In an attempt to further characterize our experimental model, we also observed body weight, plasma glucose and the contractility of aortic segments in various treatment groups. Our data was expressed as mean ± SEM, and significance was regarded as P < 0.05. We found that a combination of streptozotocin and nicotine treatment resulted in a significant elevation of systolic blood pressure compared with either treatment alone, or control. Furthermore, assessment of aortic contractility showed alteration of reactivity to both phenylephrine and sodium nitroprusside as a result of the combination treatment. We also observed a trend for our combination treatment to exacerbate the elevation of plasma glucose level seen in streptozotocin induced diabetic rat models. This study serves as an experimental basis to underline the importance of cessation of tobacco use for individuals with diabetes mellitus.en-USblood pressurecardiovasculardiabetessmokingstreptozotocinnicotineratcombinationtext