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Common E-Cigarette Flavorant May Disrupt Normal Embryo Development
Researchers found vanillin in e-cigarette liquids altered human embryonic stem cells at low doses and killed them at higher doses, prompting pregnancy warnings.
A study published Thursday in Human Reproduction reports that vanillin, a common e-cigarette flavoring, disrupts embryonic stem cell development by binding to TRPV4 surface receptors.
Professor Prue Talbot and colleagues at the University of California Riverside investigated vanillin because it is frequently used in e-cigarette fluids at high concentrations and binds to TRPV4 channels on embryonic cells.
Nanomolar concentrations caused stem cells to lose pluripotency, the ability to develop into all cell types, and forced differentiation into endoderm, a tissue forming gut and respiratory linings.
Professor Marian Knight of the University of Oxford cautioned that laboratory conditions differ significantly from human pregnancy, noting many effects occurred at levels unlikely to reach a developing fetus.
Study authors advised clinicians to counsel pregnant women against vaping and urged regulatory agencies to mandate ingredient disclosure on packaging, citing prenatal sensitivity to environmental chemicals.