cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Share your quitting journey

just saw this on the news

JonesCarpeDiem
0 12 6

Odor receptors in the lungs and blood and heart

Your nose isn't the only thing that senses cigarette smoke -- researchers have found that odor receptors exist in your lungs, too.

The odor receptors in the lungs are called pulmonary neuroendocrine cells, and were discovered by researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, the Washington University School of Medicine and the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.

These cells are in the membranes of the neuroendocrine cells of the lungs. That means that when the lungs detect the smell of cigarette smoke, it prompts hormones to be released that then lead to constriction of the airways.

Researchers noted that these particular cells could help explain why people with respiratory diseases are so sensitive to things like perfumes and traffic fumes.

The findings were published earlier last year in the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, but were publicized only recently.

Last year, a study presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society showed that odor sensors exist also in the blood and heart, as well as the lungs, LiveScience reported.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/05/odor-receptors-lungs-pulmonary-neuroendocrine-cells_n_45380...

12 Comments
About the Author
Hello, My name is Dale. I was quit 18 months before joining this site and had participated on another site during that time. I learned a lot there and brought it with me. I joined this site the first week of August 2008. I didn't pressure myself to quit. HOW I QUIT I didn't count, I didn't deny myself to get started. When I considered quitting (at a friends request to influence his brother to quit), I simply told myself to wait a little longer. No denial, nothing painful. After 4 weeks I was down to 5 cigarettes from a pack a day. The strength came from proving to myself, I didn't need to smoke because I normally would have smoked. Simple yes? I bought the patch. I forgot to put one on on the 4th day. I needed it the next day but the following week I forgot two days in a row I put one in my wallet with a promise to myself that I would slap it on and wait an hour rather than smoke. It rode in my wallet my first year.There's nothing keeping any of you from doing this. It doesn't cost a dime. This is about unlearning something you've done for a long time. The nicotine isn't the hard part. Disconnecting from the psychological pull, the memories and connected emotions is. :-) Time is the healer.