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Current Knowledge of E-cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products

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A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Toxicology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 September 2020) | Viewed by 83496

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Konstantinos Poulas

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Guest Editor

Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, 26500 Patras, Greece
Interests: immunology; structural biology; molecular biology; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2 spike function; cholinergic pathway
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. George Lagoumintzis

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Guest Editor

Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece
Interests: biochemistry; molecular biology; immunology; molecular pharmacology

Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, Patras, Greece
Interests: immunology; structural biology; molecular biology; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2 spike function; cholinergic pathway
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Tobacco smoking has been identified as the single most important source of preventable morbidity and premature mortality in financially developed countries. Electronic cigarettes are non-tobacco nicotine delivery devices, that are used by smokers as a substitute in an attempt to quit smoking. Heated tobacco products are newer tobacco harm reduction (THR) products that function by heating, instead of combusting, tobacco. Awareness and use of these devices have increased exponentially over the past few years.

To date, there is considerable controversy and disagreement on the efficacy of electronic cigarettes and other harm reduction products and devices in smoking cessation.

The aim of this Special Issue in Toxics, entitled “Current Knowledge of E-Cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products”, is to highlight timely research studies addressing scientific, technological, and medical developments, as well as regulatory, legal, and policy issues on THR. Studies may include, but are not limited to original articles, expert reviews, short communications, opinion letters on debates, and any clinical and/or animal studies, aimed at better exploring the harm reduction concept, and advancing scientific knowledge. The submissions of hypotheses, opinions and commentaries, computational or modeling studies, and meta-analyses are also welcomed.

Dr. Konstantinos Poulas
Dr. George Lagoumintzis
Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

e-cigarettes
heated tobacco products
harm reduction
nicotine
tobacco
public health
smoking

Published Papers (13 papers)

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13 pages, 1889 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of 3-Month Exposure to E-Cigarette Aerosols on Glutamatergic Receptors and Transporters in Mesolimbic Brain Regions of Female C57BL/6 Mice

by Hasan Alhaddad, Woonyen Wong, Adam T. Sari, Laura E. Crotty Alexander and Youssef Sari

Toxics 2020, 8(4), 95; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics8040095 - 29 Oct 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3234

Abstract

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) use has been dramatically increased recently, especially among youths. Previous studies from our laboratory showed that chronic exposure to e-cigs, containing 24 mg/mL nicotine, was associated with dysregulation of glutamate transporters and neurotransmitter levels in the brain of a mouse model. In this study, we evaluated the effect of three months’ continuous exposure to e-cig vapor (JUUL pods), containing a high nicotine concentration, on the expression of glutamate receptors and transporters in drug reward brain regions such as the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core (NAc-core), NAc shell (NAc-shell) and hippocampus (HIP) in female C57BL/6 mice. Three months’ exposure to mint- or mango-flavored JUUL (containing 5% nicotine, 59 mg/mL) induced upregulation of metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 (mGluR1) and postsynaptic density protein 95 (phosphorylated and total PSD95) expression, and downregulation of mGluR5 and glutamate transporter 1 (GLT-1) in the NAc-shell. In addition, three months’ exposure to JUUL was associated with upregulation of mGluR5 and GLT-1 expression in the HIP. These findings demonstrated that three-month exposure to e-cig vapor containing high nicotine concentrations induced differential effects on the glutamatergic system in the NAc and HIP, suggesting dysregulation of glutamatergic system activity in mesolimbic brain regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Knowledge of E-cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products)

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18 pages, 834 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Differences in Exposure to Nicotine, Tobacco-Specific Nitrosamines, and Volatile Organic Compounds among Electronic Cigarette Users, Tobacco Smokers, and Dual Users from Three Countries

by Danielle M. Smith, Lion Shahab, Benjamin C. Blount, Michal Gawron, Leon Kosminder, Andrzej Sobczak, Baoyun Xia, Connie S. Sosnoff and Maciej L. Goniewicz

Toxics 2020, 8(4), 88; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics8040088 - 14 Oct 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4059

Abstract

Country-level differences in nicotine vaping products used and biomarkers of exposure among long-term e-cigarette users and dual users remain understudied. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014 in the United States (n = 166), United Kingdom (n = 129), and Poland (n = 161). We compared patterns of tobacco product use and nicotine and toxicant exposure among cigarette-only smokers (n = 127); e-cigarette-only users (n = 124); dual users of tobacco cigarettes and e-cigarettes (n = 95); and non-users (control group, n = 110) across three countries using mixed-effects linear regression. Compared with cigarette smokers, e-cigarette-only users had lower levels of toxicant biomarkers, but higher levels of nicotine biomarkers. Dual users had higher levels of toxicant biomarkers than e-cigarette-only users but similar levels to cigarette-only smokers. E-cigarette users in Poland, who overwhelmingly used refillable tank devices, exhibited greater levels of nicotine, and toxicant biomarkers relative to e-cigarette users in US/UK. Despite smoking fewer cigarettes, dual users from Poland exhibited similar levels of nicotine biomarkers compared with UK dual users, but higher than US dual users. Country-level differences in e-cigarette devices used and smoking behaviors (e.g., intensity) may contribute to differences in biomarker levels among users of the same products residing in different countries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Knowledge of E-cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products)

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10 pages, 242 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Acute Effects of Electronic Cigarette Vaping and Tobacco Cigarette Smoking on Choroidal Thickness in Young, Healthy, Habitual, Dual Smokers

by Olga E. Makri, Athina Pallikari, Konstantinos Kagkelaris, Stylianos N. Mastronikolis, Georgios Karanasios, Chrysanthos Symeonidis, Panagiotis Plotas and Constantine D. Georgakopoulos

Toxics 2020, 8(4), 85; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics8040085 - 11 Oct 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2729

Abstract

The present study aims to evaluate and compare the acute effects of tobacco cigarettes (TC) smoking and electronic cigarette (EC) vaping on foveal and choroidal thickness (CT) in young, healthy, dual smokers. Participants underwent four trials: 5 min TC; 5 min EC; 30 min EC; and 60 min nothing (sham trial). Scans before and immediately after each trial were obtained using spectral domain optical coherence tomography with the enhanced depth imaging mode. Changes in central foveal thickness (CFT), subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT), and CT at fourother points, 500 μm and 1000 μm temporally and nasally to the fovea, were measured. Forty-seven participants (33 male, 14 female; mean age 24.85 ± 1.57 years) were included. They smoked 13.53 ± 5.27 TCs/day for 6 ± 2.3 years and vaped ECs for the past 2.4 ± 1.08 years. We did not observe any statistically significant change in SFCT, CFT, and CT of the other points after any of the fourtrials. The acute changes in CFT and CT after EC vaping or TC smoking did not differ significantly compared to the sham trial. Smoking and vaping does not seem to result in statistically significant acute alterations in foveal and CT in young, dual smokers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Knowledge of E-cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products)

19 pages, 2538 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Water-Pipe Smoking Exposure Deregulates a Set of Genes Associated with Human Head and Neck Cancer Development and Prognosis

by Vanessa M. López-Ozuna, Ishita Gupta, Ryan Liu Chen Kiow, Emad Matanes, Hadeel Kheraldine, Amber Yasmeen, Ashraf Khalil, Semir Vranic, Ala-Eddin Al Moustafa and Halema F Al Farsi

Toxics 2020, 8(3), 73; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics8030073 - 18 Sep 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2891

Abstract

Water-pipe smoking (WPS) is becoming the most popular form of tobacco use among the youth, especially in the Middle East, replacing cigarettes rapidly and becoming a major risk of tobacco addiction worldwide. Smoke from WPS contains similar toxins as those present in cigarette smoke and is linked directly with different types of cancers including lung and head and neck (HN) carcinomas. However, the underlying molecular pathways and/or target genes responsible for the carcinogenic process are still unknown. In this study, human normal oral epithelial (HNOE) cells, NanoString PanCancer Pathways panel of 770 gene transcripts and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis were applied to discover differentially expressed genes (DEG) modulated by WPS. In silico analysis was performed to analyze the impact of these genes in HN cancer patient’s biology and outcome. We found that WPS can induce the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT: hallmark of cancer progression) of HNOE cells. More significantly, our analysis of NanoString revealed 23 genes deregulated under the effect of WPS, responsible for the modulation of cell cycle, proliferation, migration/invasion, apoptosis, signal transduction, and inflammatory response. Further analysis was performed using qRT-PCR of HNOE WPS-exposed and unexposed cells supported the reliability of our NanoString data. Moreover, we demonstrate those DEG to be upregulated in cancer compared with normal tissue. Using the Kaplan–Meier analysis, we observed a significant association between WPS-deregulated genes and relapse-free survival/overall survival in HN cancer patients. Our findings imply that WPS can modulate EMT as well as a set of genes that are directly involved in human HN carcinogenesis, thereby affecting HN cancer patients’ survival. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Knowledge of E-cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products)

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21 pages, 5047 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Pulmonary Toxicity and Inflammatory Response of Vape Cartridges Containing Medium-Chain Triglycerides Oil and Vitamin E Acetate: Implications in the Pathogenesis of EVALI

by Thivanka Muthumalage, Joseph H. Lucas, Qixin Wang, Thomas Lamb, Matthew D. McGraw and Irfan Rahman

Toxics 2020, 8(3), 46; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics8030046 - 28 Jun 2020

Cited by 37 | Viewed by 8466

Abstract

Recently, there has been an outbreak of a condition named e-cigarette or vaping products-associated lung injury (EVALI). The primary components of vaping products include tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), vitamin E acetate (VEA) and medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), may be responsible for acute lung toxicity. Currently, little information is available on the physiological and biological effects of exposure to these products. We hypothesized that these CBD/counterfeit vape cartridges and their constituents (VEA and MCT) induce pulmonary toxicity, mediated by oxidative damage and inflammatory responses, leading to acute lung injury. We studied the potential mechanisms of CBD/counterfeit vape cartridge aerosol induced inflammatory response by evaluating the generation of reactive oxygen species by MCT, VEA, and cartridges and their effects on the inflammatory state of pulmonary epithelium and immune cells both in vitro and in vivo. Cells exposed to these aerosols generated reactive oxygen species, caused cytotoxicity, induced epithelial barrier dysfunction, and elicited an inflammatory response. Using a murine model, the parameters of acute toxicity to aerosol inhalation were assessed. Infiltration of neutrophils and lymphocytes was accompanied by significant increases in IL-6, eotaxin, and G-CSF in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). In mouse BALF, eicosanoid inflammatory mediators, leukotrienes, were significantly increased. Plasma from e-cig users also showed increased levels of hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (HETEs) and various eicosanoids. Exposure to CBD/counterfeit vape cartridge aerosols showed the most significant effects and toxicity compared to MCT and VEA. In addition, we determined SARS-CoV-2 related proteins and found no impact associated with aerosol exposures from these tested cartridges. Overall, this study demonstrates acute exposure to specific CBD/counterfeit vape cartridges induces in vitro cytotoxicity, barrier dysfunction, and inflammation and in vivo mouse exposure induces acute inflammation with elevated proinflammatory markers in the pathogenesis of EVALI. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Knowledge of E-cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products)

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10 pages, 1198 KiB

Open AccessArticle

E-Cigarette Liquid Provokes Significant Embryotoxicity and Inhibits Angiogenesis

by Anas A. Ashour, Hashim Alhussain, Umar Bin Rashid, Labiba Abughazzah, Ishita Gupta, Ahmed Malki, Semir Vranic and Ala-Eddin Al Moustafa

Toxics 2020, 8(2), 38; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics8020038 - 27 May 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3694

Abstract

E-cigarette smoking (ECS) is a new method of tobacco smoking that is gaining popularity as it is thought to be a “healthy method” of tobacco consumption. The adverse outcomes of ECS on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems in humans have been recently demonstrated. Nevertheless, the effect of e-cigarette liquid (ECL) on the early stage of embryogenesis and angiogenesis has not been explored yet. Chicken embryo at 3 days of incubation and its chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) of 5 days were used to explore the outcome of ECL on the embryo. Real-time PCR was also employed to study the regulation of a set of key controller genes of embryogenesis as well as angiogenesis. Our study revealed that ECL exposure is associated with a high rate of mortality in embryos as around 70% of treated embryos, at 3 days of incubation, die after 5 days of exposure. Additionally, ECL inhibits angiogenesis of the CAM of 5 days of incubation by more than 30%. These effects could be explained by the upregulation of ATF-3, FOXA2, INHBA, MAPRE-2, and RIPK-1, as well as the downregulation of SERPINA-4 and VEGF-C genes, which are important key controller genes of embryogenesis as well as angiogenesis. Our data suggest clearly that ECS can have dramatic toxic outcomes on the early stage of embryogenesis as well as angiogenesis. Accordingly, we believe that further studies to assess the effects of ECS on human health are essential. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Knowledge of E-cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products)

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12 pages, 235 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Chemical Constituents Involved in E-Cigarette, or Vaping Product Use-Associated Lung Injury (EVALI)

by Thivanka Muthumalage, Michelle R. Friedman, Matthew D. McGraw, Gary Ginsberg, Alan E. Friedman and Irfan Rahman

Toxics 2020, 8(2), 25; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics8020025 - 03 Apr 2020

Cited by 48 | Viewed by 9403

Abstract

The Centers for Disease Control declared e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) a national outbreak due to the high incidence of emergency department admissions and deaths. We have identified chemical constituents in e-cig counterfeit cartridges and compared these to medical-grade and CBD containing cartridges. Apart from vitamin E acetate (VEA) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), other potential toxicants were identified including solvent-derived hydrocarbons, silicon conjugated compounds, various terpenes, pesticides/plasticizers/polycaprolactones, and metals. This study provides additional insights into the chemicals associated with EVALI cartridges and thus may contribute to the underlying disease mechanism of acute lung injury. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Knowledge of E-cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products)

17 pages, 2514 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Exposure to Tobacco Cigarette, Electronic Cigarette and Heated Tobacco Product on Adipocyte Survival and Differentiation In Vitro

by Zoi Zagoriti, Mohamed A. El Mubarak, Konstantinos Farsalinos and Stavros Topouzis

Toxics 2020, 8(1), 9; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics8010009 - 05 Feb 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 5034

Abstract

Cigarette smoking (CS) causes significant morbidity worldwide, attributed to the numerous toxicants generated by tobacco combustion. Electronic cigarettes (ECIG) and heated tobacco products (HTP) are considered alternative smoking/vaping products that deliver nicotine through an inhaled aerosol and emit fewer harmful constituents than CS. However, their long-term impacts on human health are not well established. Nicotine exposure has been linked to lipolysis and body weight loss, while smoking has been associated with insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia. Enhanced function of beige (thermogenic) adipocytes has been proposed as a means to reduce obesity and metabolic disorders. In this study, we compared the effect of extract-enriched media via exposure of culture medium to CS, HTP aerosol, and ECIG aerosol on the viability and the differentiation of 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes to beige adipocytes. Only CS extract caused a decrease in cell viability in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Furthermore, relative lipid accumulation and expression levels of the adipocyte markers Pgc-1α, Ppar-γ and Resistin were significantly decreased in cells exposed to CS extract. Our results demonstrate that CS extract, in contrast to HTP and ECIG extracts, significantly impairs differentiation of pre-adipocytes to beige adipocytes and may therefore impact significantly adipose tissue metabolic function. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Knowledge of E-cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products)

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19 pages, 1583 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Analysis of Cannabinoid-Containing Fluids in Illicit Vaping Cartridges Recovered from Pulmonary Injury Patients: Identification of Vitamin E Acetate as a Major Diluent

by Bryan Duffy, Lingyun Li, Shijun Lu, Lorie Durocher, Mark Dittmar, Emily Delaney-Baldwin, Deepika Panawennage, David LeMaster, Kristen Navarette and David Spink

Toxics 2020, 8(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics8010008 - 24 Jan 2020

Cited by 76 | Viewed by 16588

Abstract

Beginning in June of 2019, there was a marked increase in reported cases of serious pulmonary injury associated with vaping. The condition, referred to as e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI), does not appear to involve an infectious agent; rather, a chemical adulterant or contaminant in vaping fluids is suspected. In August of 2019, the Wadsworth Center began receiving vaporizer cartridges recovered from patients with EVALI for analysis. Having no a priori information of what might be in the cartridges, we employed untargeted analyses using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and high-resolution mass spectrometry to identify components of concern. Additionally, we employed targeted analyses used for New York medical marijuana products. Here, we report on the analyses of 38 samples from the first 10 New York cases of EVALI for which we obtained cartridges. The illicit fluids had relatively low cannabinoid content, sometimes with unusual Δ⁹-/Δ⁸-tetrahydrocannabinol ratios, sometimes containing pesticides and many containing diluents. A notable diluent was α-tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E acetate; VEA), which was found in 64% of the cannabinoid-containing fluids. To investigate potential sources of the VEA, we analyzed six commercial cannabis-oil diluents/thickeners. Three were found to be >95% VEA, two were found to be primarily squalane, and one was primarily α-bisabolol. The cause(s) of EVALI is unknown. VEA and squalane are components of some personal care products; however, there is growing concern that vaping large amounts of these compounds is not safe. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Knowledge of E-cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products)

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Graphical abstract

16 pages, 1995 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Second-Hand Exposure to Electronic Cigarette Vaping under a Real Scenario: Measurements of Ultrafine Particle Number Concentration and Size Distribution and Comparison with Traditional Tobacco Smoke

by Jolanda Palmisani, Alessia Di Gilio, Laura Palmieri, Carmelo Abenavoli, Marco Famele, Rosa Draisci and Gianluigi de Gennaro

Toxics 2019, 7(4), 59; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics7040059 - 25 Nov 2019

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 7705

Abstract

The present study aims to evaluate the impact of e-cig second-hand aerosol on indoor air quality in terms of ultrafine particles (UFPs) and potential inhalation exposure levels of passive bystanders. E-cig second-hand aerosol characteristics in terms of UFPs number concentration and size distribution exhaled by two volunteers vaping 15 different e-liquids inside a 49 m³ room and comparison with tobacco smoke are discussed. High temporal resolution measurements were performed under natural ventilation conditions to simulate a realistic exposure scenario. Results showed a systematic increase in UFPs number concentration (part cm⁻³) related to a 20-min vaping session (from 6.56 × 10³ to 4.01 × 10⁴ part cm⁻³), although this was one up to two order of magnitude lower than that produced by one tobacco cigarette consumption (from 1.12 × 10⁵ to 1.46 × 10⁵ part cm⁻³). E-cig second-hand aerosol size distribution exhibits a bimodal behavior with modes at 10.8 and 29.4 nm in contrast with the unimodal typical size distribution of tobacco smoke with peak mode at 100 nm. In the size range 6–26 nm, particles concentration in e-cig second-hand aerosol were from 2- (Dp = 25.5 nm) to 3800-fold (Dp = 9.31 nm) higher than in tobacco smoke highlighting that particles exhaled by users and potentially inhaled by bystanders are nano-sized with high penetration capacity into human airways. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Knowledge of E-cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products)

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8 pages, 1704 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Real-Time Assessment of E-Cigarettes and Conventional Cigarettes Emissions: Aerosol Size Distributions, Mass and Number Concentrations

by Spyros Lampos, Evangelia Kostenidou, Konstantinos Farsalinos, Zoi Zagoriti, Aristeidis Ntoukas, Konstantinos Dalamarinis, Panagiotis Savranakis, George Lagoumintzis and Konstantinos Poulas

Toxics 2019, 7(3), 45; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics7030045 - 30 Aug 2019

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 7388

Abstract

Cigarette smoke is a complex mixture of chemical compounds which are emitted during the processes of tobacco combustion. Electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) are expected to produce less harmful compounds due to the absence of tobacco leaf combustion. However, potential risks of the passive exposure to the aerosol exhaled by e-cig users have been raised in the last decade. In this study, the aerosols with diameter less than 1 μm (PM₁) produced by vaping of various e-cig liquids were compared to those generated by smoking conventional cigarettes in real time. The mass and number concentration along with the number size distribution were measured in a closed room of 35 m³ volume. Our results showed that aerosols emitted from e-cig liquids had a different profile compared to those from conventional cigarettes. Although e-cigs initially produced higher particle mass and number concentrations, their emissions had much shorter lifetime of approximately 10–20 s, in comparison with the conventional and hand-rolling cigarette particulate emissions which had a dissipation time of approximately 1.4 h in a 35 m³ room. E-cigs emitted aerosols which volatilized rapidly, as they probably consisted almost only of propylene glycol and/or vegetable glycerin. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Knowledge of E-cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products)

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Review

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24 pages, 319 KiB

Open AccessReview

Electronic Cigarette Use and Metabolic Syndrome Development: A Critical Review

by Ilona Górna, Marta Napierala and Ewa Florek

Toxics 2020, 8(4), 105; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics8040105 - 17 Nov 2020

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4003

Abstract

The metabolic syndrome is a combination of several metabolic disorders, such as cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis, and type 2 diabetes. Lifestyle modifications, including quitting smoking, are recommended to reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome and its associated complications. Not much research has been conducted in the field of e-cigarettes and the risk of metabolic syndrome. Furthermore, taking into account the influence of e-cigarettes vaping on the individual components of metabolic syndrome, i.e, abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and elevated arterial blood pressure, the results are also ambiguous. This article is a review and summary of existing reports on the impact of e-cigarettes on the development of metabolic syndrome as well as its individual components. A critical review for English language articles published until 30 June 2020 was made, using a PubMed (including MEDLINE), Cochrane, CINAHL Plus, and Web of Science data. The current research indicated that e-cigarettes use does not affect the development of insulin resistance, but could influence the level of glucose and pre-diabetic state development. The lipid of profile an increase in the TG level was reported, while the influence on the level of concentration of total cholesterol, LDL fraction, and HDL fraction differed. In most cases, e-cigarettes use increased the risk of developing abdominal obesity or higher arterial blood pressure. Further research is required to provide more evidence on this topic. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Knowledge of E-cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products)

14 pages, 715 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) and Their Relevance in Oral Health

by Gozde Isik Andrikopoulos, Konstantinos Farsalinos and Konstantinos Poulas

Toxics 2019, 7(4), 61; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics7040061 - 06 Dec 2019

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 7126

Abstract

The number and popularity of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and especially e-cigarettes (e-cigs) have been increasing in the last decade. Although ENDS owe their popularity to excluding the harmful chemicals that are present in tobacco smoke, there is a debate whether they are safe, regulated, and as harmless as they are assumed to be and have potential unknown long-term effects. Involvement of cigarette smoking to the progression of periodontal diseases, other adverse oral health outcomes, and its detrimental effects to oral health are well-described. ENDS producer companies claim that these products can improve oral health by providing alternatives to smoking. However, the effect of e-cigs on oral health is not fully understood and is still debated among many scientists and clinicians. The number of studies addressing the potential toxic effect of ENDS or e-cig aerosol on oral cells is limited along with the clinical studies which are still preliminary, and their sample size is limited. The long-term effects of inhaled aerosols and the potential synergistic effect of the e-cigs components are not known. It is essential and of utmost importance to determine whether exposure to ENDS aerosol contributes to the progression of periodontal diseases and how it affects periodontal ligament and gingival cells which are believed to be its first targets. This review briefly summarizes the available evidence about the effects of e-cigs on periodontal health including several pathophysiological events, such as oxidative stress, DNA damage, inflammation, cellular senescence, dysregulated repair, and periodontal diseases. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Knowledge of E-cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products)

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