Abstract 15702: Chronic Use of Electronic or Tobacco Cigarettes Alters Circulating Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, Oxidation Status and Cardiovascular Risk in Healthy Young Adults

Abstract

Introduction: Electronic cigarettes (EC) have recently gained unprecedented popularity with over 5 million users in the United States. However, it is not known whether chronic EC use induces cardiovascular health effects in healthy young adults. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that chronic EC use ≥1 year affects lipid peroxidation and/or antioxidant defense in the circulating blood, as compared to chronic tobacco cigarette (TC) smokers. Methods: We enrolled EC-users (n=32), TC-smokers (n=29) and non-users (n=45) with mean ages of 28.3, 27.8 and 27.4 years, respectively. Plasma concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids and oxidized metabolites were assessed by liquid chromatography coupled to ion trap mass spectrometry. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC), heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and functional activity of paraoxonase1 (PON1) and arylesterase were determined by colorimetric and enzymatic assays in the plasma. Multivariable analysis was performed using classification models aimed at segregating subjects based on biomarker profiles. Results: As shown in table 1, EC-users and TC-smokers exhibited significant alterations in oxidized linoleic acid (LA) metabolites (9- and 13-hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid (HODE)), arachidonic acid (AA), LA, TAC and HO-1. Multivariable analysis identified a set of 5 biomarkers (13-HODE, LA, 9-HODE, 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (HETE), and AA) that discriminated EC-users from TC-smokers and non-users with an overall accuracy of 73.4%. Conclusions: Chronic use of EC induces both common (i.e. reduced 9- and 13-HODEs, and increased TAC) as well as differential effects (i.e. altered concentrations of AA and LA) to those induced by TC, along with intermediate plasma HO-1 concentrations, suggesting that EC, likewise TC smoke, could impact cardiovascular risk.