Chronic effects of vaping with and without nicotine on arterial stiffness in rats

The use of electronic cigarette (E-cig) devices has increased over the last decade. However, little is known about the cardiovascular effects of vaping over prolonged periods of time. Preliminary data from female Sprague Dawley rats exposed to either air (n=1), nicotine-free E-cig vapor without nicotine (E-cig0, n=3) or E-cig vapor with 18 mg/ml free-base nicotine (E-cig18, n=1) were obtained using 75/25 VG/PG base solution with a 3rd generation tank-style E-cig device. Whole body exposure was performed via a dual chamber exposure system (Scireq InExpose) consisting of 20 puffs over 1-hour each day (1 puff every 3 minutes), 5 days/week, using 5-sec (55 ml) puffs @17.5 watts. This resulted in an average daily total particulate matter (TPM) concentration of ~120 mg/m3. Total number of particles measured in E-cig0 and E-cig18 chambers was 1.09 × 1010 and 2.14 × 1010, with an average daily particle exposure of 6.4 × 105 and 1.18 ×106 particles, respectively. In-vivo aortic stiffness was assessed under anesthe...