ArticlePloS one2015
Menthol attenuates respiratory irritation and elevates blood cotinine in cigarette smoke exposed mice.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
55 citing papers in PubMed, 72 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evaluating the effect of switching to non-menthol cigarettes among current menthol smokers: an empirical study of a potential ban of characterising menthol flavour in cigarettes.Tobacco control · 2020Trial
- Smoking Behavior and Exposure: Results of a Menthol Cigarette Cross-over Study.American journal of health behavior · 2017Trial
- Influence of Cooling Agents on the Arrhythmogenic and Autonomic Effects of Electronic Cigarettes in an in vivo Model.Circulation. Arrhythmia and electrophysiology · 2026Article
- Commentary Paper on Cooling Flavors in Cigarette and Non-Cigarette Tobacco Products.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2026Article
- Influence of e-cigarettes and their constituents on cardiac rhythm and arrhythmias.American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology · 2026Review
- Coolants, organic acids, flavourings and other additives that facilitate inhalation of tobacco and nicotine products: implications for regulation.Tobacco control · 2026Review
- Chemosensory tobacco product toxicology part 2: toxicological testing, assays, and state of the science.Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology · 2025Review
- Mechanism of Action and Efficacy of Wu-Hua-Yan-Xiao in the Treatment of Pediatric Acute Pharyngitis Based on Network Pharmacology and Experimental Validation.Drug design, development and therapy · 2025Article
- The neurotrophic factor artemin and its receptor GFRα3 mediate migraine-like pain via the ion channel TRPM8.Cephalalgia : an international journal of headache · 2024Article
- The neurotrophic factor artemin and its receptor GFRα3 mediate migraine-like pain via the ion channel TRPM8.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- More than a "characterizing flavor": Menthol at subliminal levels in tobacco products.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2024Review
- Investigating the role of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in menthol's effects in mice.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2024Article
- Ice flavours and non-menthol synthetic cooling agents in e-cigarette products: a review.Tobacco control · 2023Review
- Irritant-evoked reflex tachyarrhythmia in spontaneously hypertensive rats is reduced by inhalation of TRPM8 agonists l-menthol and WS-12.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2023Article
- E-cigarettes and their lone constituents induce cardiac arrhythmia and conduction defects in mice.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Assessment of inhalation toxicity of cigarette smoke and aerosols from flavor mixtures: 5-week study in A/J mice.Journal of applied toxicology : JAT · 2022Article
- Comparison of Carcinogen Biomarkers in Smokers of Menthol and Nonmenthol Cigarettes: The 2015-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Special Sample.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2022Article
- Synthetic Cooling Agents in US-marketed E-cigarette Refill Liquids and Popular Disposable E-cigarettes: Chemical Analysis and Risk Assessment.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2022Article
- Chemosensory Contributions of E-Cigarette Additives on Nicotine Use.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Review
- Cold stimuli, hot topic: An updated review on the biological activity of menthol in relation to inflammation.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Addition of menthol to cigarettes may be associated with increased initiation of smoking. The potential mechanisms underlying this association are not known. Menthol, likely due to its effects on cold-sensing peripheral sensory neurons, is known to inhibit the sensation of irritation elicited by respiratory irritants. However, it remains unclear whether menthol modulates cigarette smoke irritancy and nicotine absorption during initial exposures to cigarettes, thereby facilitating smoking initiation. Using plethysmography in a C57Bl/6J mouse model, we examined the effects of L-menthol, the menthol isomer added to cigarettes, on the respiratory sensory irritation response to primary smoke irritants (acrolein and cyclohexanone) and smoke of Kentucky reference 2R4 cigarettes. We also studied L-menthol's effect on blood levels of the nicotine metabolite, cotinine, immediately after exposure to cigarette smoke. L-menthol suppressed the irritation response to acrolein with an apparent IC₅₀ of 4 ppm. Suppression was observed even at acrolein levels well above those necessary to produce a maximal response. Cigarette smoke, at exposure levels of 10 mg/m³ or higher, caused an immediate and marked sensory irritation response in mice. This response was significantly suppressed by L-menthol even at smoke concentrations as high as 300 mg/m³. Counterirritation by L-menthol was abolished by treatment with a selective inhibitor of Transient Receptor Potential Melastatin 8 (TRPM8), the neuronal cold/menthol receptor. Inclusion of menthol in the cigarette smoke resulted in roughly a 1.5-fold increase in plasma cotinine levels over those observed in mice exposed to smoke without added menthol. These findings document that, L-menthol, through TRPM8, is a strong suppressor of respiratory irritation responses, even during highly noxious exposures to cigarette smoke or smoke irritants, and increases blood cotinine. Therefore, L-menthol, as a cigarette additive, may promote smoking initiation and nicotine addiction.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.