Vitamin E Acetate Causes Softening of Pulmonary Surfactant Membrane Models

作者：Mitchell DiPasquale, Maksymilian Dziura, Omotayo Gbadamosi, Stuart R. Castillo, Ambreen Fahim, Justin Roberto, Jeffrey Atkinson, Natalie Boccalon, Mario Campana, Sai Venkatesh Pingali, P. Charukeshi Chandrasekera, Piotr Zolnierczuk, Michihiro Nagao, Elizabeth G. Kelley, Drew Marquardt · 发表于：Chemical Research in Toxicology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1021/acs.chemrestox.4c00425 · 被引用次数：5 · 研究领域：Lipid Membrane Structure and Behavior、Hemoglobin structure and function、Fuel Cells and Related Materials

The popularity of electronic cigarettes and vaping products has launched the outbreak of a condition affecting the respiratory system of users, known as electronic-cigarette/vaping-associated lung injury (EVALI). The build-up of vitamin E acetate (VEA), a diluent of some illicit vaping oils, in the bronchoalveolar lavage of patients with EVALI provided circumstantial evidence as a target for investigation. In this work, we provide a fundamental characterization of the interaction of VEA with lung cells and pulmonary surfactant (PS) models to explore the mechanisms by which vaping-related lung injuries may be present. We first confirm the localization and uptake of VEA in pulmonary epithelial cells. Further, as PS is vitally responsible for the biophysical functions of the lungs, we explore the effect of added VEA on three increasingly complex models of PS: dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC), a lipid-only synthetic PS, and the biologically derived extract Curosurf. Using high-resolution techniques of small-angle X-ray scattering, small-angle neutron scattering, neutron spin-echo spectroscopy, and neutron reflectometry, we compare the molecular-scale behaviors of these membranes to the bulk viscoelastic properties of surfactant monolayer films as studied by Langmuir monolayer techniques. While VEA does not obviously alter the structure or organization of PS membranes, a consistent softening of membrane systems─regardless of compositional complexity─provides a biophysical exp...