Effect of chronic JUUL aerosol inhalation on inflammatory states of the brain, lung, heart and colon in mice

Abstract

While health effects of conventional tobacco are well defined, data on vaping devices, including the most popular e-cigarette JUUL, are less established. Prior acute e-cigarette studies demonstrated inflammatory and cardiopulmonary physiology changes while chronic studies demonstrated extra-pulmonary effects, including neurotransmitter alterations in reward pathways. In this study we investigated effects of chronic flavored JUUL aerosol inhalation on inflammatory markers in brain, lung, heart, and colon. JUUL induced upregulation of cytokine and chemokine gene expression and increased HMGB1 and RAGE in the nucleus accumbens. Inflammatory gene expression increased in colon, and cardiopulmonary inflammatory responses to acute lung injury with lipopolysaccharide were exacerbated in the heart. Flavor-dependent changes in several responses were also observed. Our findings raise concerns regarding long-term risks of e-cigarette use as neuroinflammation may contribute to behavioral changes and mood disorders, while gut inflammation has been tied to poor systemic health and cardiac inflammation to development of heart disease.

Differential Effects of Nicotine, Alcohol, and Coexposure on Neuroimmune-Related Protein and Gene Expression in Corticolimbic Brain Regions of Rats

“…This blood plasma finding is interesting as another study in mice with 1 month of exposure to JUUL vape pods demonstrated increased TNF-α and IL-1β across subregions of the nucleus accumbens. 87 Nonetheless, human nicotine exposure via transdermal patch decreases the effects of LPS, increasing circulating concentrations of the antiinflammatory/regulatory cytokine IL-10. 88 Moreover, activation of the α7 nicotinic receptor blocks LPS-induced increases in TNF-α while not affecting IL-10, 14 suggesting that multiple nicotinic receptor subtypes play a role in this anti-inflammatory effect.…”