In Vitro Toxicological Investigation and Risk Assessment of E-Cigarette Aerosols Based on a Novel Solvent-Free Extraction Method

Hongjuan Wang; Shulei Han; Huan Chen; Peizhen Li; Shigang Li; Yujuan Wu; Chunxia Zhang; Yaning Fu; Yushan Tian; Tong Liu; Hongwei Hou; Qingyuan Hu

doi:10.1021/acsomega.2c06663

In Vitro Toxicological Investigation and Risk Assessment of E-Cigarette Aerosols Based on a Novel Solvent-Free Extraction Method

ACS Omega. 2022 Dec 6;7(51):48403-48415. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.2c06663. eCollection 2022 Dec 27.

Authors

Hongjuan Wang^{1

2}, Shulei Han^{1

2}, Huan Chen^{1

2}, Peizhen Li^{1

2}, Shigang Li^{1

2}, Yujuan Wu^{1

2}, Chunxia Zhang^{1

2}, Yaning Fu^{1

2}, Yushan Tian^{1

2}, Tong Liu^{1

2}, Hongwei Hou^{1

2}, Qingyuan Hu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ China National Tobacco Quality Supervision and Test Center, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
² Key Laboratory of Tobacco Biological Effects, Zhengzhou 450001, China.

Abstract

Cigarettes, potentially safer alternatives to combustible cigarettes, have been reported to increase the health risk for long-term users, so accumulating information about their potential toxicity is of great concern. However, toxicological evaluations of e-cigarette aerosols are limited, which may be attributed to the lack of a simple and efficient extraction method. Here, we developed a high-speed centrifugal method for extracting e-cigarette aerosol collected mass (ACM) and prepared ACM samples of 26 representative e-cigarettes, and 10 samples were further selected based on their cytotoxicity for systematic toxicological assessments. The average extraction efficiency of ACM, primary aerosol components, and typical carbonyls exceeded 85%. The toxicological evaluation showed that the IC₅₀ value range of e-cigarettes for cytotoxicity was 2-52 mg/mL ACM, all e-cigarettes can induce the risk of DNA damage, mitochondrial depolarization, and c-Jun-related signal disturbances; most e-cigarettes significantly caused disturbance of oxidative stress balance. E-cigarettes with higher cytotoxicity appeared to cause a higher degree of damage, while no e-cigarette promoted mutagenicity and cytochrome c release. The toxicity difference among e-cigarettes using nicotine equivalent was significantly lower than that of ACM. This study provides a novel extraction method and a comprehensive in vitro toxicity risk profile of e-cigarette aerosols.