A STUDY TO DETECT THE SAFETY OF ELECTRONIC CIGARETTE ON THE TASTE BUDS OF ALBINO RATS TONGUE PAPILLAE

Background: Electronic cigarette is a substitute to traditional nicotine smoke invented since 2004. There is no enough data about its safety with its the widespread usage.
Aim of the study: The present study was designed to verify the impact of E-liquid of electronic cigarette on taste buds of fungiform papillae in albino rats.
Materials and methods: 22 young adult male albino rats were divided into 3 groups.
Group I: (control group), injected i.p by normal saline daily. Group II: (E-cigarette group): animals were injected i.p by E-cigarette refill liquid (ECRL) containing 0.5 mg of nicotine/kg for 6 days then continue to be administered the same dose day after day for 4 weeks. Group III (E-cigarette + vitamin C treated group): animals had been i.p injected by (ECRL) containing 0.5 mg of nicotine/kg. One hour from i.p injection of the liquid, the animals were received vitamin C 300 mg/ kg through oro-gastric gavage for 6 days. Then animals were receive the regimen day after day till the end of 4 weeks. Rats of groups sacrificed 24 hs from last injection. After processing the tissue samples, they were stained using Haematoxylin & Eosin and Cytokeratin 7 & TNF α. The results were analyzed statistically using one way ANOVA test.
Results: Evaluation of the sections revealed significant differences between all groups with marked improvement in group III. p value was less than 0.05.
Conclusion: E-cigarette smoking has a harmful effect on taste buds of fungiform papilla histologically and immunohistochemically. Vitamin C has a protective effect on taste bud against E-cigarette refill liquid.