Assistant-in-Charge: Michelle Lee(李佩瑾)
Member-in-Team:Tina Lin(林佩蓉), Kevin Chen(陳品維)
Article Reference:TheNew York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/)
Published Date of Article:1st June 2018
Original Article:
Cinnamon May Be Safe in Foods, but Is It Safe in E-Cigarettes?
A cinnamon food additive impaired the cilia in human lung cells.
A common cinnamon food additive that is widely used to flavor e-cigarettes had harmful effects on human lung cells in a laboratory culture, disrupting the cells’ innate host defense system, scientists report.
The compound, called cinnamaldehyde, gives cinnamon its characteristic flavor and smell and is generally considered safe when added to food. But like many chemicals in e-cigarette emissions, it has not been thoroughly evaluated for safety when inhaled rather than ingested, said Phillip Clapp, who recently completed his doctorate in the lab of Dr. Ilona Jaspers, deputy director of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma and Lung Biology.
The researchers exposed cultured human bronchial cells to diluted cinnamon e-liquids and to e-liquid aerosol, or vapor, from an e-cigarette device purchased at a local vape shop in Chapel Hill. A single exposure impaired the function of the cells’ cilia, important hairlike projections whose back-and-forth movements clear mucus and pathogens from the lungs.
Anything that impairs the motion of the cilia can predispose the lungs to respiratory infections. After a single exposure of the cells to e-cigarette liquid or aerosol containing cinnamaldehyde, “the cilia motion came to a complete stop,” Dr. Jaspers said.
“That makes the defensive barrier of the lung less effective and more vulnerable to anything you inhale,” potentially increasing susceptibility to respiratory infections and other lung diseases, Dr. Clapp said.
“E-cigarettes are widely believed to be less toxic than tobacco cigarettes, but there’s really no data out there that they are or are not — that’s just an assumption, a belief,” Dr. Jaspers said. “We need to go back and re-educate people that they may not be without harm.”
The findings of the research, which have not yet been published, were presented at the international conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego in May.
Translatiosn of Article:
電子菸中的肉桂添加劑真的安全嗎？
肉桂食品添加劑將損害人體肺纖毛細胞
科學家指出，常用於增添電子菸風味的肉桂食品添加劑會危害實驗室培養的人體肺細胞，甚至破壞其先天性防禦系統。
近日於Ilona Jaspers博士（美國北卡羅來納大學教堂山分校的環境醫學暨哮喘與肺部生物學中心副主任）的實驗室中完成博士學位的Phillip Clapp表示：「這種名為肉桂醛的化合物賦予了肉桂特有的風味和氣味，一般認為添加於食品中是安全的。但如同許多電子菸排放的物質，它被人體吸入的安全性，尚未像食用一樣受過徹底的安全評估。」
研究者利用從教堂山當地的電子菸專賣店購買的電子菸裝置，將培養出的人類支氣管細胞暴露在稀釋過且含有桂皮成分的電子煙油、電子煙油氣霧劑、或蒸氣。經過單次的暴露之後，細胞纖毛的功能受損。細胞纖毛是一種像毛髮的保護層，利用前後擺動，清除來自肺的黏液以及病原體。
任何會破壞纖毛運動的物質均容易造成呼吸道感染。當細胞暴露在電子煙油或是含有桂皮醛的氣霧劑中，根據Dr. Jaspers的說法：「纖毛運動會完全停止。」
Dr. Clapp說：「他會使肺部的防禦屏障變得薄弱，且提升吸入物質對人體的淺在傷害，進而增加呼吸系統的感染以及其他肺的疾病的可能。」
Dr. Jaspers說：「人們相信電子菸與菸草香菸相比，毒性是較為薄弱的，但目前卻沒有資料足以證明，因此這只是一種假設，一種人們的信念。」「我們必須重新教育人們，這些可能是有害的。」
這些尚未發表的研究發現，會在美國胸腔協會於五月所舉辦在聖地牙哥的國際會議上提出。
