About this Research Topic

Background

The recent outbreak of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use–associated lung injury (EVALI) demonstrated that safety of electronic vaping devices (EVP) is not adequately addressed. Numerous new quantitative analytical methods have been developed and validated in order to characterize constituents of e-liquids and aerosol emissions, as well as chemical exposure biomarkers in biospecimens such as bronchoalveolar lavage fluids collected from EVALI case patients. Application of these analytical methods is crucial for elucidating the chemical exposure responsible for the EVALI outbreak; continued application of these methods will be critical for understanding the public health impact of EVP use. Outbreaks of EVALI and similar occurrences of non-EVALI respiratory illness are continuing to occur. Thus, scientists, physicians, and public health officials need to be aware and have access to these novel analytical methods to better understand the evolving exposure and health consequences of EVP use.

EVPs have been commercially available in the U.S. since 2007. However, there are still no specific regulatory guidelines or practices currently in place or enforced to specify the identity or safety of the ingredients or emissions. Initially, most EVPs were relatively simple, and contained relatively few chemical ingredients – primarily propylene glycol, glycerol, and nicotine. More recent generations of EVPs include more diverse chemical constituents. A wide array of chemicals at varying concentrations are used in EVP devices to achieve differences in delivery, taste, throat hit, and exhaled aerosol clouds. Vaping liquids and cartridges most often contain unknown or unspecified chemical contents with uncharacterized inhalational toxicity.

Thus, widespread prevalence of EVP use has resulted in the need for new, selective, sensitive analytical methods to identity, quantitate, and characterize both known and unknown ingredients and emissions. This Research Topic aims to become the point of reference around discussions on the analytical methodology developed towards that effect.

This Research Topic is open to analytical chemistry focused papers that describe methods to quantify harmful emissions from products as well as measurements in physiological fluids that connect harmful exposures to disease. We welcome Original Research, Review, Mini Review and Perspective articles on themes including, but not limited to:
•  Quantitative analysis of biomarkers related to use of electronic vaping devices, with a focus on highly selective techniques such as GCMS and LCMSMS.
•  Quantitative analysis of liquids used in, and aerosols delivered by electronic vaping devices
•  Innovative analytical methodologies leveraging selective instrumentation such as mass spectrometry to improve quantitation of potential toxicants in EVP aerosols and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid
•  Topography or patterns of use studies that characterize user behaviors
•  Impact of common modifications of EVPs by users

Keywords: electronic vaping devices, quantitative analysis, aerosol delivery, e-liquids, biomarkers

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