• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Friday, August 1, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Chemistry

Nicotine vapour more rewarding for adolescents than adults

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
September 16, 2020
in Chemistry
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

IMAGE

Credit: University of Guelph

University of Guelph researchers are the first to discover that adolescents react differently to e-cigarette vapour than adults.

Led by Prof. Jibran Khokhar, Department of Biomedical Science in U of G’s Ontario Veterinary College, the rodent-based research measured behavioural responses related to vaping.

“This is the first study to show that rodents find e-cigarette vapour rewarding in a conditioned place preference experiment,” Khokhar said,?referring to animals’ preference for a chamber in which experimenters previously exposed them to a drug.

“It also shows that adolescents find the nicotine vapour more rewarding compared to adults, and do so even at shorter exposures, which are not rewarding for the adults.”

Published recently in eNeuro, the research?is the first to use a U of G-developed technology called OpenVape, which makes the study of vaping more accessible. The apparatus can be used with various vapourizers, is easy to build and costs less than existing technologies.

“The OpenVape device opens a lot of new doors for researchers trying to test the effects of exposures in a manner akin to the route used by humans,” Khokhar said.

The research findings are important, he added, because they may help explain why e-cigarettes are so popular with adolescents and why there is a steady rise in their use.

Recent years have seen a sharp increase in adolescent vaping. E-cigarette use more than doubled between 2017 and 2019 in Ontario among Grade 7-12 students. Between 2017 and 2019, vaping rates doubled among Ontario teens, from 11 per cent to 23 per cent.

“The adolescent brain may be especially vulnerable to the rewarding effects of nicotine vapour,” Khokhar said. “The shorter exposures may also suggest that it might take very limited exposure to the vapour for adolescents to experience the rewarding effects, and this may contribute to their continued use.”

A growing body of literature suggests adolescents are especially vulnerable to the addictive effects of nicotine, he added. Longitudinal studies associate adolescent e-cigarette use with a greater risk of cigarette smoking in future.

“The findings from our study will help uncover the mechanisms underlying the vulnerability of the adolescent brain to the rewarding effects of e-cigarette vapour as well as the long-term consequences of adolescent vapour exposure,” Khokhar said.

Next, he plans to look at the long-term consequences of adolescent exposure to e-cigarette vapour on behaviours related to tobacco consumption.

“Studies in humans suggest that adolescent vaping increases the risk for switching to combustible tobacco, so we would be able to answer whether that association is causal,” he said. “We will also explore the brain mechanisms that make adolescents more vulnerable, as well as the long-term changes in brain activity and function after adolescent exposure.”

###

His research was supported by a Discovery Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, as well as funding from the Canada Research Chairs program and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Media Contact
Jibran Y. Khokhar
[email protected]

Original Source

https://news.uoguelph.ca/2020/09/nicotine-vapour-more-rewarding-for-adolescents-than-adults-reveals-u-of-g-study/

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0279-20.2020

Tags: AddictionDrugsMedicine/HealthneurobiologyNeurochemistrySmoking/TobaccoSocial/Behavioral Science
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

blank

Nanodevice Harnesses Sound Waves to Shape Light, Revolutionizing Displays and Imaging Technologies

August 1, 2025
Here’s a rewritten version of the headline for a science magazine post: “Could Desert Dust Hold the Key to Freezing Clouds?”

Here’s a rewritten version of the headline for a science magazine post: “Could Desert Dust Hold the Key to Freezing Clouds?”

July 31, 2025

Rice Theoretical Physicist Illuminates Rare High-Field Phase in Superconductivity Research

July 31, 2025

Sunlight Transforms the Chemical Breakdown of Discarded Face Masks

July 31, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Blind to the Burn

    Overlooked Dangers: Debunking Common Myths About Skin Cancer Risk in the U.S.

    60 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15
  • Dr. Miriam Merad Honored with French Knighthood for Groundbreaking Contributions to Science and Medicine

    46 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 12
  • Study Reveals Beta-HPV Directly Causes Skin Cancer in Immunocompromised Individuals

    37 shares
    Share 15 Tweet 9
  • Sustainability Accelerator Chooses 41 Promising Projects Poised for Rapid Scale-Up

    35 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Hospitalized Malnourished Kids in Niger Acquire Drug-Resistant E. coli

Heat Islands and Persistence Fuel Urban Heat Events

Final Clinical Trial Results Published for Advanced Kidney Cancer Therapy

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.