Azzopardi David, Patel Kharishma, Jaunky Tomasz, Santopietro Simone, Camacho Oscar M, McAughey John, Gaça Marianna
a British American Tobacco, R&D Centre , Southampton , Hampshire , UK.
Toxicol Mech Methods. 2016 Jul;26(6):477-491. doi: 10.1080/15376516.2016.1217112.
Electronic cigarettes (E-cigarettes) are a potential means of addressing the harm to public health caused by tobacco smoking by offering smokers a less harmful means of receiving nicotine. As e-cigarettes are a relatively new phenomenon, there are limited scientific data on the longer-term health effects of their use. This study describes a robust in vitro method for assessing the cytotoxic response of e-cigarette aerosols that can be effectively compared with conventional cigarette smoke. This was measured using the regulatory accepted Neutral Red Uptake assay modified for air-liquid interface (ALI) exposures. An exposure system, comprising a smoking machine, traditionally used for in vitro tobacco smoke exposure assessments, was adapted for use with e-cigarettes to expose human lung epithelial cells at the ALI. Dosimetric analysis methods using real-time quartz crystal microbalances for mass, and post-exposure chemical analysis for nicotine, were employed to detect/distinguish aerosol dilutions from a reference Kentucky 3R4F cigarette and two commercially available e-cigarettes (Vype eStick and ePen). ePen aerosol induced 97%, 94% and 70% less cytotoxicity than 3R4F cigarette smoke based on matched EC values at different dilutions (1:5 vs. 1:153 vol:vol), mass (52.1 vs. 3.1 μg/cm) and nicotine (0.89 vs. 0.27 μg/cm), respectively. Test doses where cigarette smoke and e-cigarette aerosol cytotoxicity were observed are comparable with calculated daily doses in consumers. Such experiments could form the basis of a larger package of work including chemical analyses, in vitro toxicology tests and clinical studies, to help assess the safety of current and next generation nicotine and tobacco products.
电子烟是一种潜在手段，通过为吸烟者提供危害较小的获取尼古丁方式来解决吸烟对公众健康造成的危害。由于电子烟是一种相对较新的现象，关于其使用的长期健康影响的科学数据有限。本研究描述了一种强大的体外方法，用于评估电子烟气溶胶的细胞毒性反应，该方法可有效地与传统香烟烟雾进行比较。这是使用针对气液界面（ALI）暴露进行改进的监管认可的中性红摄取试验来测量的。一个包括吸烟机的暴露系统，传统上用于体外烟草烟雾暴露评估，经过改装后用于电子烟，以在ALI处暴露人肺上皮细胞。采用实时石英晶体微天平进行质量剂量分析以及暴露后对尼古丁进行化学分析的方法，来检测/区分来自参考肯塔基3R4F香烟和两种市售电子烟（Vype eStick和ePen）的气溶胶稀释度。基于不同稀释度（1:5 vs. 1:153体积比）、质量（52.1 vs. 3.1μg/cm）和尼古丁（0.89 vs. 0.27μg/cm）下匹配的EC值，ePen气溶胶诱导的细胞毒性分别比3R4F香烟烟雾低97%、94%和70%。观察到香烟烟雾和电子烟气溶胶细胞毒性的测试剂量与消费者计算出的每日剂量相当。此类实验可构成更大规模工作的基础，包括化学分析、体外毒理学测试和临床研究，以帮助评估当前及下一代尼古丁和烟草产品的安全性。
