TOP: Lateral 3D rendering of stereotypical skulls of in utero ENDS provider exposures. MIDDLE: Superior View 3D rendering of stereotypical skulls of in utero ENDS provider exposures. BOTTOM: Coronal (left) and sagittal overlays of stereotypical skulls of in utero ENDS provider exposures. White/Grey = Management; Yellow = 30/70 PG/VG; Inexperienced = 50/50 PG/VG. Coronal overlay utilized sella turcica for anatomical registration. Sagittal overlay utilized C1 for anatomical registration. Credit score: PLOS One (2025). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0327190
In utero publicity to 2 liquid components in e-cigarettes—minus the nicotine that drives dependancy—can alter cranium form throughout fetal improvement, a brand new research in mice has discovered.
In a sequence of experiments, pregnant mice had been uncovered to a mixture of two liquids used to create vaping’s throat hit and smoke plume. In comparison with two different experimental situations, the offspring of moms uncovered to a selected ratio of those compounds weighed much less and had been born with narrowed facial options and shortened skulls.
The discovering was shocking to researchers not solely as a result of no nicotine was current, however as a result of the ratio of chemical substances that produced the cranium defect was designed by the e-cigarette trade to be a safer accessible choice than the proportions in earlier merchandise.
“This had no nicotine, and it’s still having effects on the development of the skull in our model, which was not anything we expected,” mentioned lead research creator James Cray, professor of anatomy at The Ohio State College School of Drugs.
The analysis was printed just lately within the journal PLOS One.
Cray’s developmental biology lab has studied the results of in utero publicity to nicotine on head and face improvement for years, reporting in 2020 that publicity to nicotine by means of breastmilk triggered cranium defects in mice. About 3% of infants are born yearly with a start defect, in accordance with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, and alterations to the top and neck are among the many commonest—notably cleft lip and/or cleft palate.
On this research, the group was growing a mannequin to function an experimental management for comparability to animals uncovered in utero to nicotine by means of vaping.
Pregnant mice had been uncovered to both filtered free air or two humectants—hydrating substances that operate as carriers of different e-cigarette contents—at differing concentrations: 50% every of propylene glycol and glycerol (additionally referred to as vegetable glycerin), or 30% propylene glycol and 70% glycerol (30/70 PG/VG).
As a result of propylene glycol in e-cigarettes has been linked to growing uptake of nicotine, Cray mentioned, “a lot of companies have moved toward getting away from a high percentage of propylene glycol and toward more glycerol, trying to position this as a safer alternative.”
Feminine mice had been uncovered to those three totally different situations at a fee of 1 puff per minute, 4 hours per day on 5 days every week in the course of the roughly 20-day being pregnant.
The cranial width and top of mouse pup skulls had been scanned two weeks after start. The evaluation confirmed statistically important decreased measures within the offspring of pregnant mice uncovered to the presumed safer 30/70 PG/VG combination in comparison with mice uncovered to free air and the 50/50 formulation.
“What we see is a consistent narrowing of all of the facial features, and the same thing as we move back into the cranium as well. So globally, they’re narrower and a little bit shorter-headed, which does mimic some observable changes that we see in children,” Cray mentioned. “We also saw a bit of a reduction in weight. These animals were within the normal range of an animal that age, but they still weighed less.”
The findings had been constant throughout a number of litters of mice and in each organic sexes.
“The 50/50 mixture had no dramatic statistical changes—and that’s where we were looking for the difference. We thought heavier propylene glycol should be causing more effects, and it was the exact opposite,” Cray mentioned.
The Meals and Drug Administration started regulating digital nicotine supply methods in 2016, however has confronted authorized pushback from e-cigarette firms—which prevailed in a June 20 U.S. Supreme Court docket ruling that makes it simpler to sue the FDA over efforts to dam merchandise from the market. In April, the court docket sided with the FDA’s crackdown on sweet-flavored merchandise after a serious improve in teen vaping.
Although researchers proceed to review the well being results of a number of components detected in e-cigarettes, many unknowns stay because the merchandise develop in reputation.
“The majority of users are young adults and teenagers, so we are talking about people who are in peak reproductive years. And with development of the head happening very early in fetal development, people could be using these products and not even realize that they are pregnant, which is of great concern,” Cray mentioned.
“This is a small study that speaks to the possibility that nicotine-free vaping is not safe. And it’s a sign that we probably should study nicotine-free products as much as we study the nicotine-laden products.”
Co-authors embrace Logan Shope, Ethan Leonard, Leslie Sewell, Tyler Maykovich, Roy Miller, Matthew Gorr and Loren Wold of Ohio State; Ethan Richlak of Nationwide Youngsters’s Hospital and the College of Pittsburgh; and Amr Mohi of UT Well being San Antonio.
Extra info:
Ethan Richlak et al, In utero publicity to digital cigarette carriers alters craniofacial morphology, PLOS One (2025). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0327190
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