Biological Toxicity of the Compositions in Electronic-Cigarette on Cardiovascular System

Using electronic cigarette (e-cig) among youth is becoming a critical public health crisis in the USA. However, the biological impacts of the e-cig on multiple organ systems, especially in the cardiovascular system, are largely unknown. Unlike conventional tobacco, e-cig combines various chemical ingredients including nicotine and other add-on non-nicotine chemicals, such as the solvents (propylene glycol and/or vegetable glycerin) and flavoring chemicals, which dramatically increases the diversity of the potential implications. The recent outbreak of e-cig vaping-related tragic deaths in youth and multiple hospitalized patients raised a question on the safety of e-cig use and led to an urgent need for the knowledge of the health risk of the e-cig compositions. Therefore, in the review, we summarized the latest findings from both human and animal studies on the potential cardiovascular toxicological effects of e-cig on the cardiovascular system in terms of the systemic physiological implications and the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved.