A trove of studies exploring the risks associated with e-cigarette usage has yielded mixed results, with some researchers refuting its safeness for consumption.
In a new study by a team of experts at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, e-cigarette use was purported to have inflamed the lungs and caused structural changes in proteins among rodents.
The findings appeared in Redox Biology.
Researchers exposed the rodents they tested to three separate one-hour sessions of vapor originating from an e-cigarette device, for a span of three days.
It was determined that signs of oxidative stress were an outcome of exposure to vapor from e-cigarette use.
“There have been a number of studies on this, and they generally have gross measures that say, ‘Ok, there’s some oxidative stress going on here, but we don’t really know what’s going on,” states Charles Ansong, co-author of the study, in a press release.
“But this technique identifies which proteins are being modified, which sites are modified, and it suggests how likely they are to impact protein function and molecular pathways. It gives us a lot of insight into the mechanism behind the injurious effects of e-cigarettes.”
The findings are just a glimpse at the potential damage e-cigarette use can induce in the lungs of smokers. Future research may uncover more protein alterations caused by vaping.
