Impact of JUUL e-liquids on important bone markers in bone-forming cells

AUTHORS: Kaiden Lee, Maddie M. Villarreal, and Florence D.M. Wavreil
FACULTY: Dr. Sara Heggland
DEPARTMENT: Biology

ABSTRACT

JUUL pods continue to be a popular nicotine delivery system among adolescent and young adult vapers. As adverse health effects of vaping continue to come to light, we are interested in the potential impacts on bone-forming cells as late-adolescence is a critical stage of bone development. Collagen type I, calcium, and phosphate are major components of bone vital to bone development. We hypothesize that bone cell function is impaired by exposure to JUUL e-liquids. Building on previous work showing flavor dependent decreases in cell viability with Menthol being the more toxic flavor (EC50 at 0.57% with 5% nicotine) and Virginia Tobacco less toxic (EC50 at 2.83% with 5% nicotine), we investigated the impacts of JUUL e-liquids on the expression of Collagen type I and the deposition of calcium and phosphate in the bone-forming cell line Saos-2. Collagen was measured using immunofluorescence, calcium and phosphate were measured using Alizarin Red Staining and Von Kossa Staining, respectively. Collagen type I appears to be unaffected. We did not find flavor or nicotine dependent patterns in the deposition of calcium or phosphate. Current experiments include aerosolized Juul e-liquids and oxidative stress assays as we continue to explore the potential health impacts of vaping on bone health. This research is supported by an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Grant #P20GM103408.