Department of Physiology, DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN 37752, USA.
Department of Chemistry and Physics, School of Mathematics & Sciences, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN 37752, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Dec 14;18(24):13190. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182413190.
Vaping (inhalation of electronic cigarette-generated aerosol) is a public health concern. Due to recent spikes in adolescent use of electronic cigarettes (ECIGs) and vaping-induced illnesses, demand for scientific inquiry into the physiological effects of electronic cigarette (ECIG) aerosol has increased. For such studies, standardized and consistent aerosol production is required. Many labs generate aerosol by manually activating peristaltic pumps and ECIG devices simultaneously in a predefined manner. The tedium involved with this process (large puff number over time) and risk of error in keeping with puff topography (puff number, duration, interval) are less than optimal. Furthermore, excess puffing on an ECIG device results in battery depletion, reducing aerosol production, and ultimately, its chemical and physical nature. While commercial vaping machines are available, the cost of these machines is prohibitive to many labs. For these reasons, an economical and programmable ECIG aerosol generator, capable of generating aerosol from two atomizers simultaneously, was fabricated, and subsequently validated. Validation determinants include measurements of atomizer temperatures (inside and outside), electrical parameters (current, resistance and power) of the circuitry, aerosol particle distribution (particle counts and mass concentrations) and aerosol delivery (indexed by nicotine recovery), all during stressed conditions of four puffs/minute for 75 min (i.e., 300 puffs). Validation results indicate that the ECIG aerosol generator is better suited for experiments involving ≤100 puffs. Over 100 puffs, the amount of variation in the parameters measured tends to increase. Variations between channels are generally higher than variations within a channel. Despite significant variations in temperatures, electrical parameters, and aerosol particle distributions, both within and between channels, aerosol delivery remains remarkably stable for up to 300 puffs, yielding over 25% nicotine recovery for both channels. In conclusion, this programmable, dual-channel ECIG aerosol generator is not only affordable, but also allows the user to control puff topography and eliminate battery drain of ECIG devices. Consequently, this aerosol generator is valid, reliable, economical, capable of using a variety of E-liquids and amenable for use in a vast number of studies investigating the effects of ECIG-generated aerosol while utilizing a multitude of puffing regimens in a standardized manner.
蒸气吸入（电子烟产生的气溶胶吸入）是一个公共卫生关注点。由于青少年最近使用电子烟（ECIG）和蒸气吸入疾病的急剧增加，对电子烟（ECIG）气溶胶生理效应的科学研究的需求增加了。对于这些研究，需要标准化和一致的气溶胶产生。许多实验室通过以预定义的方式同时手动激活蠕动泵和 ECIG 设备来产生气溶胶。这个过程涉及到繁琐（随着时间的推移，大量的抽吸次数）和保持抽吸地形学（抽吸次数、持续时间、间隔）的误差风险，这都不是最佳的。此外，在 ECIG 设备上过度抽吸会导致电池耗尽，减少气溶胶的产生，最终影响其化学和物理性质。虽然有商用的蒸气吸入机器可供使用，但这些机器的成本对于许多实验室来说是过高的。出于这些原因，制造了一种经济实惠且可编程的 ECIG 气溶胶发生器，能够同时从两个雾化器产生气溶胶，随后对其进行了验证。验证的决定因素包括测量雾化器的温度（内部和外部）、电路的电气参数（电流、电阻和功率）、气溶胶颗粒分布（颗粒计数和质量浓度）和气溶胶输送（以尼古丁回收率为指标），所有这些都在每分钟 4 次抽吸（即 300 次抽吸）、持续 75 分钟的紧张条件下进行。验证结果表明，ECIG 气溶胶发生器更适合涉及≤100 次抽吸的实验。超过 100 次抽吸，测量参数的变化量趋于增加。通道之间的差异通常高于通道内的差异。尽管在通道内和通道之间的温度、电气参数和气溶胶颗粒分布都有显著变化，但气溶胶输送仍然非常稳定，可达 300 次抽吸，两个通道的尼古丁回收率均超过 25%。总之，这种可编程的双通道 ECIG 气溶胶发生器不仅价格实惠，而且还允许用户控制抽吸地形学并消除 ECIG 设备的电池损耗。因此，这种气溶胶发生器是有效、可靠、经济实惠的，能够使用各种电子烟液，并且适合用于大量研究电子烟产生的气溶胶的影响，同时以标准化的方式使用多种抽吸方案。
