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VCU TCORS: Human Lab Methods for MRTP Evaluation

Principal Investigator: Alison Breland and Michael Weaver

Funding Mechanism: National Institutes of Health- TCORS Grant

ID number: 1P50DA036105-01

Award Date: 9/30/2013

Institution: Virginia Commonwealth University

E-cigarette safety and use behaviors require further study. This project will determine the behavioral effects and toxicant exposure associated with e-cigarette use and their abuse liability. Specific aims are: (1) to demonstrate how human laboratory methods can reveal product use behaviors, toxicant exposure, and effects, (2) to demonstrate how human laboratory methods can determine product abuse liability; and (3) to determine how unorthodox use behavior influences e-cigarette effects. Six studies in subjects aged 18-55 will be conducted as part of this project: a two-condition (topography measurement with mouthpiece vs. no mouthpiece) within-subject study involving experienced e-cigarette users; a study in which a nicotine-delivering e-cigarette is used to examine the effects of varying nicotine concentrations in experienced e-cigarette users and e-cigarette-naïve cigarette smokers; a five-day study conducted in e-cigarette-naïve cigarette smokers that compares the toxicant exposures and other effects of an e-cigarette, an inhaler, conventional tobacco cigarettes, and tobacco abstinence; two separate within-subject short-term laboratory studies evaluating the reinforcing efficacy of a low-dose e-cigarette, a high-dose e-cigarette, and a nicotine inhaler, conducted with experienced e-cigarette users and e-cigarette-naive cigarette smokers; and a within-subject study with two conditions (unorthodox e-cigarette use vs. conventional use) conducted in subjects experienced with both methods to test whether unorthodox use (i.e., "dripping" nicotine liquid onto the e-cigarette heater) alters user nicotine exposure and effects. This project will demonstrate how human laboratory methods can inform tobacco product evaluation by determining the behavior, effects, and toxicant exposure associated with product use and how these methods can inform abuse liability assessment.

VCU Center for the Study of Tobacco Products (TCORS) Related Resources