Marsico Lung Institute/Cystic Fibrosis Research Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 7;7(1):7459. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-07862-w.
In the past 5 years, e-cigarette use has been increasing rapidly, particularly in youth and young adults. Due to the novelty of e-cigarettes (e-cigs) and e-cigarette liquids (e-liquids), research on their chemo-physical properties is still in its infancy. Here, we describe a previously unknown and potentially useful property of e-liquids, namely their autofluorescence. We performed an emission scan at 9 excitation wavelengths common to fluorescent microscopy and found (i) that autofluorescence differs widely between e-liquids, (ii) that e-liquids are most fluorescent in the UV range (between 350 and 405 nm) and (iii) fluorescence intensity wanes as the emission wavelength increases. Furthermore, we used the autofluorescence of e-liquids as a marker for tracking e-cig aerosol deposition in the laboratory. Using linear regression analysis, we were able to quantify the deposition of a "vaped" e-liquid onto hard surfaces. Using this technique, we found that every 70 mL puff of an e-cigarette deposited 0.019% e-liquid (v/v) in a controlled environment. Finally, we vaped a surface in the laboratory and used our method to detect e-cig aerosol third-hand exposure. In conclusion, our data suggest that e-cigarette autofluorescence can be used as a marker of e-cigarette deposition.
在过去的 5 年中，电子烟的使用迅速增加，尤其是在青年人和年轻人中。由于电子烟（e-cigs）和电子烟液（e-liquids）的新颖性，对其化学物理性质的研究仍处于起步阶段。在这里，我们描述了电子烟液的一个以前未知的潜在有用特性，即它们的自发荧光。我们在荧光显微镜常用的 9 个激发波长上进行了发射扫描，发现：（i）电子烟液之间的自发荧光差异很大；（ii）电子烟液在紫外光范围内（350 至 405nm）最具荧光性；（iii）荧光强度随着发射波长的增加而减弱。此外，我们还将电子烟液的自发荧光用作实验室中追踪电子烟气溶胶沉积的标记物。使用线性回归分析，我们能够定量评估电子烟液在硬表面上的沉积量。使用这种技术，我们发现每 70 毫升电子烟的一口抽吸会在受控环境中沉积 0.019%的电子烟液（体积比）。最后，我们在实验室中对一个表面进行了抽吸，并使用我们的方法来检测电子烟气溶胶的三手暴露。总之，我们的数据表明，电子烟的自发荧光可以用作电子烟沉积的标志物。
