ArticlePLoS biology2018
Evaluation of e-liquid toxicity using an open-source high-throughput screening assay.
Article in PLoS biology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04982978 (The Effectiveness of the Protection Motivation Theory in Reducing Vaping Behaviour in a Student Population), which is not on this map. Cited by 98 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
The Effectiveness of the Protection Motivation Theory in Reducing Vaping Behaviour in a Student Population
Who cites it
98 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 177 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mapping the effectiveness of digital health interventions in promoting electronic cigarette cessation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Pulmonary effects of e-liquid flavors: a systematic review.Journal of toxicology and environmental health. Part B, Critical reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Genotoxic and Carcinogenic Potential of Compounds Associated with Electronic Cigarettes: A Systematic Review.BioMed research international · 2019Pooled it
- The effect of nicotine delivery system on blood protease levels: a randomized crossover study.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Acute analgesic effect of nicotine vaping using three experimental pain induction tasks: a randomized, placebo-controlled laboratory study.Psychopharmacology · 2025Trial
- Optimising messages and images for e-cigarette warnings.Tobacco control · 2025Trial
- Effects of Nicotine Content and Preferred Flavor on Subjective Responses to E-cigarettes: A Randomized, Placebo-controlled Laboratory Study.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2024Trial
- Evaluation of Acute Exposure to Combustible and Novel Tobacco Products Using an In Vitro Human Airway Organ Tissue Equivalent Model.Journal of applied toxicology : JAT · 2026Article
- Toxicity and Appeal of Flavoured E-Cigarettes and Flavour Ban Outcomes: A Narrative Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Review
- Oxidative stress mediates cardiac electrophysiological injury in inhalation exposure to flavored vaping products.Heart rhythm · 2026Article
- Aromatic aldehydes formed during heating of cinnamon-flavored e-liquids drive pro-inflammatory responses in human aortic smooth muscle cells.Current research in toxicology · 2026Article
- Prenatal Exposure to Tobacco Smoke and Vaping Aerosols: Mechanisms Disrupting White-Matter Formation.Toxics · 2025Review
- Impact of Nicotine-Free Electronic Cigarettes on Cardiovascular Health: A Systematic Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Analysing the acute toxicity of e-cigarette liquids and their vapour on human lung epithelial (A549) cellsToxicology reports · 2025Article
- Cytotoxic and oxidative effects of commercially available propylene glycol (PG) and vegetable glycerin (VG): Common humectants in electronic cigarettes.Toxicology reports · 2025Article
- Toxicity of humectants propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin in electronic nicotine delivery systems.Toxicology letters · 2025Review
- E-Cigarette and Vanillin Exposure Disrupts Cardiovascular Development in Xenopus laevis.Birth defects research · 2025Article
- Vaping Among Malaysian Students 2022-2024: A Systematic Review of Prevalence, Awareness and Influencing Factors.The Malaysian journal of medical sciences : MJMS · 2025Review
- Review
- Exposure to Toxic Compounds Using Alternative Smoking Products: Analysis of Empirical Data.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
38 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The e-liquids used in electronic cigarettes (E-cigs) consist of propylene glycol (PG), vegetable glycerin (VG), nicotine, and chemical additives for flavoring. There are currently over 7,700 e-liquid flavors available, and while some have been tested for toxicity in the laboratory, most have not. Here, we developed a 3-phase, 384-well, plate-based, high-throughput screening (HTS) assay to rapidly triage and validate the toxicity of multiple e-liquids. Our data demonstrated that the PG/VG vehicle adversely affected cell viability and that a large number of e-liquids were more toxic than PG/VG. We also performed gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis on all tested e-liquids. Subsequent nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis revealed that e-liquids are an extremely heterogeneous group. Furthermore, these data indicated that (i) the more chemicals contained in an e-liquid, the more toxic it was likely to be and (ii) the presence of vanillin was associated with higher toxicity values. Further analysis of common constituents by electron ionization revealed that the concentration of cinnamaldehyde and vanillin, but not triacetin, correlated with toxicity. We have also developed a publicly available searchable website (www.eliquidinfo.org). Given the large numbers of available e-liquids, this website will serve as a resource to facilitate dissemination of this information. Our data suggest that an HTS approach to evaluate the toxicity of multiple e-liquids is feasible. Such an approach may serve as a roadmap to enable bodies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to better regulate e-liquid composition.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.