Summary
Introduction:
This article reports a study on the effects of vaping during pregnancy on the health and cerebrovascular function in adolescent and adult offspring. The study found that maternal vaping, with or without nicotine, confers risk and harm potential to the cerebrovascular health of offspring in early and adult life.
Key Points:
* The study used a whole body exposure system to expose pregnant rats to vaping aerosol for one hour per day, five days a week, starting on gestational day 2 until pups were weaned.
* The aerosol was generated using a third-generation, tank-style, E-cig device purchased online and contained either 0 mg/mL (E-cig0) or 18 mg/mL nicotine (E-cig18) in a 75/25 vegetable glycerine/propylene glycol composition with French Vanilla flavor.
* The rat pups themselves were never placed in the exposure chamber and were never exposed to E-cig aerosol.
* Offspring were euthanized 1, 3, and 7 months after birth and ex vivo vessel function was studied using pressure myography.
* The study found that maternal vaping, with or without nicotine, resulted in impaired cerebrovascular reactivity in offspring, which was evident during early adolescent and adult life.
* The impairment was due to reduced bioavailability of NO and was not altered by E-cig aerosol exposure in the presence of NO inhibitor (L-NaME).
* Tempol, a stable synthetic compound that mimics the superoxide dismutase, fully restored the impaired cerebrovascular reactivity in both E-cig0 and E-cig18 in the older offspring, suggesting that the mechanisms underpinning vasculardysfunction involve (at least in part) oxidative stress.
Main Message:
The study's main message is that vaping during pregnancy, with or without nicotine, is not safe and confers significant risk potential to the cerebrovascular health of offspring in early and adult life. The components of the base solution, other than nicotine, likely account for the vascular dysfunction that was observed. Therefore, E-cigs should not be considered a harm-reduction tool during pregnancy.
Citation
Burrage EN, aboaziza E, hare L, et al. Long-term cerebrovascular dysfunction in the offspring from maternal electronic cigarette use during pregnancy. american journal of physiology heart and circulatory physiology. 2021;321(2):h339-h352. doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00206.2021
