How do e-cigarettes affect health of brain and other organs?

Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine in San Diego (USA) have studied the negative effects of e-cigarettes on the health of the brain, heart, lungs and colon.

The study, the results of which were described in the journal eLife, showed that vaping contributes to the development of inflammatory processes in these organs.

In the study, experts exposed lab mice to JUUL e-cigarette vaporizers three times a day, with scientists using several of the most popular flavors, including mint and mango. The experts then studied the signs of inflammation throughout the body. It turned out that the strongest changes occurred in the brains of the subjects: several markers responsible for inflammation were elevated there.

The results alarmed the experts, because the inflammation was observed in the parts of the brain that were responsible for anxiety, depression and addictive behavior, which can lead to worsening of addiction and the use of psychoactive substances.

Scientists also found an expression of inflammatory factors in the subjects' colon, especially after one month of exposure to e-cigarettes, indicating an increased risk of many gastrointestinal diseases.

In the heart, scientists have traced decreased levels of inflammatory markers, but the problem is that the immunosuppressed state of the heart can make heart tissue more vulnerable to infection.

The experts found no evidence of tissue inflammation in the lungs of the test mice, but multiple gene expression changes were observed in the samples, requiring further study of the long-term effects of e-cigarettes on lung health.

The researchers also found that the inflammatory response of each organ changed depending on which flavor of e-cigarettes was used. For example, mice that inhaled mint aerosols had a heart that was much more susceptible to bacterial pneumonia compared to those that inhaled mango aerosols.

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