Maternal electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) and offspring asthma

Abstract

Given that the rise of electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) has become increasingly relevant to the younger generations of today’s society, this paper investigates the impact of e-cig components, specifically nicotine and various e-cig flavoring chemicals, to fetal exposure during pregnancy on offspring respiratory outcomes. Previous animal studies primarily document the fetal side effects attributed to nicotine, including impaired lung development, with a model of direct chemical exposure, but we have hypothesized that in e-cig users, such phenotypes could result from and be exacerbated by the additional amalgam of chemicals that are responsible for the flavoring of e-cigs.\xa0 Therefore, we have examined the harmful effects of nicotine and flavoring chemicals used in e-cigs in defense of the hypothesis that perinatal inhaled nicotine and e-cig flavoring exposure in vivo results in an airway asthmatic phenotype in offspring, which is transmitted transgenerationally, is characterized by Th2 polarization, and is more severe with combined exposure than with either constituent alone.\xa0The findings of this review support the hypothesis of this paper in regard to the potential detrimental respiratory effects of combined constituent exposure and indicate the need for the testing of further experimental animal models to better understand the foreseeable health implications of a rising e-cig use.