Effects of smoking and smoking abstinence on spatial vision in chronic heavy smokers.

Autor: Fernandes TMP; Cognitive Neuroscience and Behavior Program, Federal University of Paraiba, Joao Pessoa, Brazil. thiagompfernandes@gmail.com.; Perception, Neuroscience and Behavior Laboratory, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa, Brazil. thiagompfernandes@gmail.com., Almeida NL; Perception, Neuroscience and Behavior Laboratory, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa, Brazil., Santos NAD; Cognitive Neuroscience and Behavior Program, Federal University of Paraiba, Joao Pessoa, Brazil.; Perception, Neuroscience and Behavior Laboratory, Federal University of Paraiba, João Pessoa, Brazil.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Scientific reports [Sci Rep] 2017 May 10; Vol. 7 (1), pp. 1690. Date of Electronic Publication: 2017 May 10.
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-01877-z
Abstrakt: Cigarette smoke is a complex chemical mixture, involving health-damaging components such as carbon monoxide, ammonia, pyridine, toluene and nicotine. While cognitive functions have been well documented in heavy smokers, spatial vision has been less characterized. In the article, we investigated smoking effects through contrast sensitivity function (CSF), a rigorous procedure that measures the spatial vision. Data were recorded from 48 participants, a group of non-smokers (n = 16), a group of chronic and heavy cigarette smokers (n = 16) and deprived smokers (n = 16); age range 20-45 years. Sinewave gratings with spatial frequencies ranging from 0.25 to 20 cycles per degree were used. All subjects were free from any neurological disorder, identifiable ocular disease and had normal acuity. No abnormalities were detected in the fundoscopic examination and in the optical coherence tomography exam. Contrary to expectations, performance on CSF differed between groups. Both smokers and deprived smokers presented a loss of contrast sensitivity compared to non-smokers. Post-hoc analyses suggest that deprived smokers were less sensitive at all spatial frequencies. These results suggest that not only chronic exposure to cigarette compounds but also withdrawal from nicotine affected spatial vision. This highlights the importance of understanding diffuse effects of smoking compounds on visual spatial processing.
Databáze: MEDLINE