Vaping product exposure system (VaPES): a novel in vitro aerosol deposition system

OBJECTIVE

Due to recent increases in the use of vaping devices, there is a high demand for research addressing the respiratory health effects of vaping products. Given the constantly changing nature of the vaping market with new devices, flavors, metals, and other chemicals rapidly emerging, there is a need for inexpensive and highly adaptable vaping device exposure systems. Here, we describe the design and validation of a novel in vitro aerosol exposure system for toxicity testing of vaping devices.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We developed an inexpensive, open-source in vitro vaping device exposure system that produces even deposition, can be adapted for different vaping devices, and allows for experiments to be performed under physiological conditions. The system was then validated with deposition testing and a representative exposure with human bronchial epithelial cells (hBECs).

RESULTS

The Vaping Product Exposure System (VaPES) produced sufficient and uniform deposition for dose-response studies and was precise enough to observe biological responses to vaping exposures. VaPES was adapted to work with both pod and cartridge-based vaping devices.

CONCLUSION

We have designed and validated a novel vaping device exposure system that will eliminate the need to use high-cost commercial exposure systems, lowering the barrier to entry of physiologically relevant vaping studies.

Key challenges for in vitro testing of tobacco products for regulatory applications: Recommendations for dosimetry

The Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS) is sponsoring a series of workshops to develop recommendations for optimal scientific and technical approaches for conducting in vitro assays to assess potential toxicity within and across tobacco and various next-generation products (NGPs) including heated tobacco products (HTPs) and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDSs). This publication was developed by a working group of the workshop members in conjunction with the sixth workshop in that series entitled "Dosimetry for conducting in vitro evaluations" and focuses on aerosol dosimetry for aerosol exposure to combustible cigarettes, HTP, and ENDS aerosolized tobacco products and summarizes the key challenges as well as documenting areas for future research.

Characterisation of a smoke/ aerosol exposure in vitro system (SAEIVS) for delivery of complex mixtures directly to cells at the air-liquid interface

In vitro testing is important to characterise biological effects of consumer products, including nicotine delivery products such as cigarettes, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. Users' cells are exposed to these products' aerosols, of variant chemical compositions, as they move along the respiratory tract. In vitro exposure systems are available to model such exposures, including delivery of whole aerosols to cells, and at the air-liquid interface. Whilst there are clear advantages of such systems, factors including time to aerosol delivery, aerosol losses and number of cell cultures that can be exposed at one time could be improved. This study aimed to characterise a custom-built smoke/ aerosol exposure in vitro system (SAEIVS) using 1R6F reference cigarette smoke. This system contains five parallel smoking chambers and delivers different dilutions of smoke/ aerosol to two separate cell culture exposure chambers in <10 s. Using two dosimetry measures (optical density 400 nm [OD⁴⁰⁰ ]; mass spectrometric nicotine quantification), the SAEIVS demonstrated excellent linearity of smoke dilution prior to exposure (R²  = 0.9951 for mass spectrometric quantification; R²  = 0.9965 for OD⁴⁰⁰ ) and consistent puff-wise exposures across 24 and 96 well plates in cell culture relevant formats (e.g., within inserts). Smoke loss was lower than previously reported for other systems (OD⁴⁰⁰ : 16%; nicotine measurement: 20%). There was good correlation of OD⁴⁰⁰ and nicotine measurements, indicating that OD was a useful surrogate for exposure dosimetry for the product tested. The findings demonstrated that the SAEIVS is a fit-for-purpose exposure system for the reproducible dose-wise exposure assessment of nicotine delivery product aerosols.

Characterization of smoke and aerosol deliveries from combustible cigarettes, heated tobacco products and electronic nicotine delivery systems in the Vitrocell® Mammalian 6/48 exposure module

The rapid development associated with Next Generation Tobacco Products (NGTP) has necessitated the development of high throughput methodologies to test their genotoxic potential in vitro when compared to conventional cigarette smoke (CS). An assessment of two Vitrocell® Mammalian 6/48 exposure modules in three independent experiments was made by comparing results from multiple dosimetric techniques applied to aerosol generated from 3R4F Kentucky Reference cigarettes, commercially available electronically heated tobacco product (eHTP) and Electronic Nicotine Delivery System (ENDS) using the Vitrocell® VC10®. Real-time aerosol particle concentration was assessed by means of light scattering photometers and expressed as area under the curve (∑AUC). Nicotine concentrations were determined analytically by LC/MS. Humectant amount and distribution was assessed for eHTP and ENDS by the quantification of free glycerol in a phosphate buffered saline (PBS) trap, whereas total particulate matter (TPM) was assessed in the 3R4F cigarettes by the fluorescence of the particulate at 485 nm in anhydrous dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) trap within the exposure. Dose was adjusted by means of the addition of ambient air to dilute the whole smoke/aerosol in L/min and sampled into the system at a rate of 5 mL/min. Dilution of CS ranged from 8.0 to 0.5 L/min and for the eHTP and ENDS ranged from 4 to 0 L/min (undiluted). Dosimetric analysis of the system showed good concordance within replicates (p-values ranged from p = 0.3762 to p = 0.8926) and showed that the Vitrocell® Mammalian 6/48 is a viable means for genotoxic assessment of aerosol generated from both conventional cigarettes and NGTP. Results demonstrate the need to tailor dosimetry approaches to different aerosols due to variations in the physio-chemical composition, with a multi-dosimetry approach recommended.