Ping Wang, Peyton Jacob, Zhong-Min Wang, Jefferson Fowles, Donal F O'Shea, Jeff Wagner, Kazukiyo Kumagai
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
The outbreak of e-cigarette or vaping use-associated lung injury (EVALI) in the United States in 2019 led to a total of 2807 hospitalizations with 68 deaths. While the exact causes of this vaping-related lung illness are still being debated, laboratory analyses of products from victims of EVALI have shown that vitamin E acetate (VEA), an additive in some tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-containing products, is strongly linked to the EVALI outbreak. Because of its similar appearance and viscosity to pure THC oil, VEA was used as a diluent agent in cannabis oils in illicit markets. A potential mechanism for EVALI may involve VEA's thermal decomposition product, ketene, a highly poisonous gas, being generated under vaping conditions. In this study, a novel approach was developed to evaluate ketene production from VEA vaping under measurable temperature conditions in real-world devices. Ketene in generated aerosols was captured by two different chemical agents and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The LC-MS/MS method takes advantage of the high sensitivity and specificity of tandem mass spectrometry and appears to be more suitable than GC-MS for the analysis of large batches of samples. Our results confirmed the formation of ketene when VEA was vaped. The production of ketene increased with repeat puffs and showed a correlation to temperatures (200 to 500 °C) measured within vaping devices. Device battery power strength, which affects the heating temperature, plays an important role in ketene formation. In addition to ketene, the organic oxidant duroquinone was also obtained as another thermal degradation product of VEA. Ketene was not detected when vitamin E was vaped under the same conditions, confirming the importance of the acetate group for its generation.
期刊介绍:
Chemical Research in Toxicology publishes Articles, Rapid Reports, Chemical Profiles, Reviews, Perspectives, Letters to the Editor, and ToxWatch on a wide range of topics in Toxicology that inform a chemical and molecular understanding and capacity to predict biological outcomes on the basis of structures and processes. The overarching goal of activities reported in the Journal are to provide knowledge and innovative approaches needed to promote intelligent solutions for human safety and ecosystem preservation. The journal emphasizes insight concerning mechanisms of toxicity over phenomenological observations. It upholds rigorous chemical, physical and mathematical standards for characterization and application of modern techniques.