Elsevier

Science of The Total Environment

Volume 499, 15 November 2014, Pages 107-113
Science of The Total Environment

A study on particles and some microbial markers in waterpipe tobacco smoke

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.08.055Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Waterpipe tobacco and smoke contain LPS and fungal biomass.

  • A strong correlation was found between TPM and LPS in MS waterpipe smoke.

  • Exposure to SH waterpipe smoke leads to deposition of particles in the airways.

Abstract

Waterpipe smoking is becoming increasingly popular worldwide. Research has shown that cigarette smoke, in addition to hundreds of carcinogenic and otherwise toxic compounds, may also contain compounds of microbiological origin. In the present study we analyzed waterpipe smoke for some microbial compounds. Both of the two markers studied, viz 3-hydroxy fatty acids of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and ergosterol of fungal biomass, were found in waterpipe tobacco, in amounts similar as previously found in cigarette tobacco, and in smoke. Waterpipe mainstream smoke contained on average 1800 pmol LPS and 84.4 ng ergosterol produced per session. An average concentration of 2.8 pmol/m3 of LPS was found in second hand smoke during a 1–2-h waterpipe smoking session while ergosterol was not detected; corresponding concentrations from smoking five cigarettes were 22.2 pmol/m3 of LPS and 87.5 ng/m3 of ergosterol. This is the first time that waterpipe smoking has been shown to create a bioaerosol. In the present study we also found that waterpipe smoking generated several polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and high fraction of small (< 200 nm) particles that may have adverse effects on human health upon inhalation.

Introduction

Cigarette tobacco contains large amounts of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria as well as molds (Larsson et al., 2008). Also cigarette smoke is rich in microbial compounds. The presence of endotoxin, viz the biologically active lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Gram-negative bacteria, in cigarette smoke was demonstrated already in 1999 (Hasday et al., 1999). This finding was important since endotoxin is a strong pro-inflammatory agent. Later, gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MSMS) was used to identify LPS and fungal biomass marker ergosterol in mainstream (MS) smoke (Larsson et al., 2004, Larsson et al., 2008). A positive relationship was found between the amounts of LPS and ergosterol in the tobacco of a studied cigarette and the amounts of the same substances in MS smoke (Larsson et al., 2008). A positive relationship was also found in second hand (SH) smoke between the number of cigarettes smoked indoors over a certain period of time and air concentrations of ergosterol and LPS (Sebastian et al., 2006). Sidestream (SS) smoke contains much fewer quantities of microbiological compounds than MS smoke probably due to thermal degradation (Larsson et al., 2012). While the microbial compounds in the smoke stem from the microbes in the tobacco, other chemicals in the smoke are largely formed by combustion during the smoking. These chemicals include for example carbon monoxide (CO) and numerous hazardous organic compounds (Shihadeh et al., 2012).

Waterpipe smoking (see Fig. 1) is considered by many tobacco users as being less harmful than cigarette smoking and has gained wide popularity in Europe and the US (Akl et al., 2011). However, the available data show that smoking waterpipe results in SH smoke emissions of appreciable amounts e.g. of ultrafine particles, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and aldehydes (Daher et al., 2010). Several of the PAHs in waterpipe smoke are carcinogenic (Sepetdjian et al., 2008). Research has also shown that waterpipe MS smoke, even after having passed the water in the pipe bowl, contains high levels of CO, toxic metals as well as carcinogenic compounds (Sajid et al., 1993, Sepetdjian et al., 2013, Shihadeh et al., 2012), and that toxicants are effectively delivered to the bloodstream (Blank et al., 2011) inducing measurable acute health effects (e.g. changes in heart rate variability (Cobb et al., 2012)). However, there have been no studies on the possible presence of microbe-derived substances in waterpipe tobacco and smoke. Because of the significantly lower temperature of the tobacco in a waterpipe compared to a cigarette (Shihadeh, 2003), microbial substances may be more efficiently transferred intact to the smoke from the tobacco.

The aim of the present study was to measure some selected microbial compounds in waterpipe tobacco and smoke. LPS and ergosterol were determined in tobacco and in machine generated SS and MS smoke. SH smoke was studied following smoking in an aerosol chamber. Waterpipe smoke was also analysed for PAHs, CO, particle size, and particle concentration. Cigarette smoke was used for comparison. Both types of smoke were characterized with regard to particle size distribution and mass concentration in order to estimate and compare the exposure and deposited dose in the respiratory tract.

Section snippets

Waterpipe tobacco

Two 100 g packages of eight brands of waterpipe tobacco were purchased at retail outlets in Beirut during the month of April, 2011. For each brand, the contents of the two packages were homogenized and approximately 100 g were sampled and ground manually using a mortar and a pestle. Two grams from each resulting mixture were then placed in a sterile, sealed plastic tube. The 16 tubes were coded for blinding and sent along with empty tubes to Lund University for analysis.

Machine generated mainstream and sidestream smoke

MS and SS waterpipe smoke

Waterpipe tobacco

Two portions of each homogenized tobacco samples were analyzed. The 16 tobacco samples contained a mean of 0.467 (SD 0.203) ng ergosterol/mg and 1.85 (SD 0.33) pmol LPS/mg. There was no correlation between the amounts of ergosterol and LPS in the studied samples.

Mainstream and sidestream smoke

LPS was detected in all of the MS and SS smoke machine-generated samples (n = 10) whereas ergosterol was found in all MS smoke and in 5 of the SS smoke samples (Table 1). A mean of 1800 pmol of LPS and 84.4 ng of ergosterol was found in MS

Discussion

In comparison with the amounts of ergosterol and LPS previously found in cigarette tobacco (Larsson et al., 2012) we expected lower amounts in waterpipe tobacco of which only approximately 1/3 actually is tobacco (with the balance comprising glycerol, water, and other additives). Taken this into consideration the amounts in the waterpipe tobacco samples are in general agreement with those from previous investigations of tobacco of cigarettes manufactured in China, Vietnam, and Korea. For

Acknowledgements

Grants from Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute (FAMRI project CIA 092049), The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (FORMAS project 242-2008-343), The Swedish Research Council (project 621-2011-3560), Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems through VINNOVA (project 2010–01004), and the US NIH (R01 DA025659) are gratefully acknowledged. We would like to thank Francisco Márquez Fernández for assistance in SH smoke experiments and

References (30)

  • A. Shihadeh et al.

    Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, "tar", and nicotine in the mainstream smoke aerosol of the narghile water pipe

    Food Chem Toxicol

    (2005)
  • A. Shihadeh et al.

    Does switching to a tobacco-free waterpipe product reduce toxicant intake? A crossover study comparing CO, NO, PAH, volatile aldehydes, “tar” and nicotine yields

    Food Chem Toxicol

    (2012)
  • B. Szponar et al.

    Bacterial and fungal markers in tobacco smoke

    Sci Total Environ

    (2012)
  • E.A. Akl et al.

    The prevalence of waterpipe tobacco smoking among the general and specific populations: a systematic review

    BMC Public Health

    (2011)
  • D.R. Collins et al.

    Improved inversion of scanning DMA data

    Aerosol Sci Technol

    (2002)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text