Using a new testing device, researchers from the University of Connecticut in the United States, U.S., found that e-cigarettes with a nicotine- based liquid could damage DNA as much as unfiltered cigarettes.
The findings which are published in the journal ‘ACS Sensors’, also found that cellular mutations caused by DNA damage can lead to cancer. An electronic cigarette or e-cigarette is a handheld electronic device that creates an aerosol by heating a liquid.
The user then inhales the aerosol. Using e-cigarettes is sometimes called vaping.
The new testing device also discovered the vapour from non-nicotine ecigarettes caused as much DNA damage as filtered cigarettes, probably due to the numerous chemical additives in the vapours.
According to study’s lead author, Karteek Kadimisetty, the amount of DNA damage e-cigarettes cause depends on the amount of vapour the user inhales, the other additives present, whether nicotine or non-nicotine liquid is used, and other factors.
However, to explore whether or not the chemicals in e-cigarettes could damage DNA, the researchers used a device they developed that can quickly detect DNA damage. T he ‘newsmax’ reported that the device uses micropumps to push liquid samples across multiple “microwells” embedded in a small carbon chip.
The wells are pre-loaded with reactive human metabolic enzymes and DNA. As the samples drop into the wells, new metabolites that have the potential to cause DNA damage are formed.
Kadimisetty said that by converting chemicals into their metabolites during testing, it replicates what happens in the human body.
Reactions between the metabolites and the DNA generate light that is photographed, and within five minutes, researchers can see how much DNA damage is done to a sample. “Some people use ecigarettes heavily because they think there is no harm,
“We wanted to see exactly what might be happening to DNA,” he said.
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