Apnea and bradycardia due to anaphylaxis to tobacco glycoprotein in the infant rabbit

Prenatal and postnatal exposure to cigarette smoke is associated with an increased incidence of the sudden infant death syndrome, although the cause(s) for this is unknown. Tobacco glycoprotein (TGP), a group of proteins purified from cured tobacco leaves and present in cigarette smoke, have been shown to cause anaphylaxis in excised hearts and lungs of adult rabbits that were neonatally sensitized to TGP and later rechallenged. We sought to determine whether anaphylaxis occurred in live infant rabbits who were neonatally sensitized to TGP. At the age of 1 day, 12 animals were sensitized to TGP (0.1mg in 0.25 cc alum) via intraperitoneal injection (i.p.i.) followed by a booster ipi at the age of 30 days (TGP-S). Seven animals received i.p.i. of antigen-free alum only (controls). All animals underwent an intravenous TGP challenge at age 42+/-2 days. Heart rate (HR) and respiratory rate (RR) were recorded for 2 min prior to and 5 min after the challenge. Baseline HR (approximately 260) and RR (approximately 120) were similar in all animals. Seven TGP-S animals developed apnea (1.9-4.7s) within 60s of the challenge while none of the controls did. The TGP-S also became bradycardic (the lowest HR over 50 consecutive beats), with the HR decreasing from 260 to 220 vs the controls, whose HR remained constant (approximately 250). We conclude that some rabbits neonatally sensitized to TGP develop apnea and bradycardia upon further intravenous TGP challenge. These studies suggest that cigarette smoke exposure may be associated with a higher rate of SIDS via an anaphylactic mechanism.