AUTHOR=Kim Dong-Youl , Jang Yujin , Heo Da-Woon , Jo Sungman , Kim Hyun-Chul , Lee Jong-Hwan 

TITLE=Electronic Cigarette Vaping Did Not Enhance the Neural Process of Working Memory for Regular Cigarette Smokers

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

VOLUME=16

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2022.817538

DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2022.817538

ISSN=1662-5161

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>Electronic cigarettes (<underline>e-cigs</underline>) as substitute devices for regular tobacco cigarettes (<underline>r-cigs</underline>) have been increasing in recent times. We investigated neuronal substrates of vaping e-cigs and smoking r-cigs from r-cig smokers.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Twenty-two r-cig smokers made two visits following overnight smoking cessation. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were acquired while participants watched smoking images. Participants were then allowed to smoke either an e-cig or r-cig until satiated and fMRI data were acquired. Their craving levels and performance on the Montreal Imaging Stress Task and a 3-back alphabet/digit recognition task were obtained and analyzed using two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance. Regions-of-interest (ROIs) were identified by comparing the abstained and satiated conditions. Neuronal activation within ROIs was regressed on the craving and behavioral data separately.</p></sec><sec sec-type="results"><title>Results</title><p>Craving was more substantially reduced by smoking r-cigs than by vaping e-cigs. The response time (RT) for the 3-back task was significantly shorter following smoking r-cigs than following vaping e-cigs (interaction: F (1, 17) = 5.3, <italic>p</italic> = 0.035). Neuronal activations of the right vermis (<italic>r</italic> = 0.43, <italic>p</italic> = 0.037, CI = [-0.05, 0.74]), right caudate (<italic>r</italic> = 0.51, <italic>p</italic> = 0.015, CI = [0.05, 0.79]), and right superior frontal gyrus (<italic>r</italic> = −0.70, <italic>p</italic> = 0.001, CI = [−0.88, −0.34]) were significantly correlated with the RT for the 3-back task only for smoking r-cigs.</p></sec><sec sec-type="conclusion"><title>Conclusion</title><p>Our findings suggest that insufficient satiety from vaping e-cigs for r-cigs smokers may be insignificant effect on working memory function.</p></sec>