Volatile aldehydes in the mainstream smoke of the narghile waterpipe
Introduction
The popularity of the narghile waterpipe, also referred to as hookah, shisha or hubble–bubble (Chaaya et al., 2004, Maziak et al., 2005, Maziak and Tabbah, 2005, Nuwayhid et al., 1998, Wolfram et al., 2003) has increased tremendously during the past few decades (Chaaya et al., 2004, Maziak et al., 2005, Maziak et al., 2004b, Tamim et al., 2007, Tamim et al., 2001) and has spread beyond the bounds of Arab countries to other parts of the world, including Europe and America (Smith-Simone et al., 2008, Ward et al., 2007). It has been postulated that the appeal of this smoking method in part stems from its role as a way of socializing with other people and, contrary to cigarettes, is socially acceptable in the Eastern Mediterranean region, where it is common for parents to allow their sons and daughters to smoke narghile (Maziak et al., 2004a). Even though waterpipe smoking likely exposes users to high levels of various toxicants (discussed below), and that the practice may be addictive (Maziak et al., 2005), it is popularly perceived as less harmful and toxic than cigarette smoking because of the purported filtering effect of the water bubbler (Kandela, 2000, Smith-Simone et al., 2008, Ward et al., 2007). Volatile aldehydes, especially formaldehyde, are associated with a significant number of cigarette smoking diseases including chronic pulmonary disorder and cancer (IARC, 2006, MFLOHC, 1994). However, aldehydes have not been quantified for narghile smoke. This study is designed to identify and quantify aldehyde compounds in mainstream narghile smoke.
The structure of the narghile waterpipe is illustrated elsewhere (Maziak et al., 2004a, Shihadeh, 2003, Shihadeh et al., 2004). An important feature distinguishing the narghile from the cigarette is the use of charcoal as a heating source in the former. Thus waterpipe smoke contains products of charcoal combustion in addition to those originating from the sweetened tobacco mixture. Despite the difference in structure between narghile and cigarettes, which include the difference in burning temperature, they both involve the consumption of tobacco. Therefore, it is expected that some of the chemical compounds identified in cigarette smoke would also be found in the smoke of a narghile, albeit at different concentrations due to the differences between the two smoking methods. While very few studies have been conducted on the chemical composition of narghile smoke, what has been found thus far suggests that this smoking method poses significant health hazards. It was found that the mainstream smoke of a single narghile smoking session contains many times the CO and nicotine found in the mainstream smoke of a single cigarette (Shihadeh and Saleh, 2005). Moreover, a single narghile smoking session yields 20 times the amount of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) found in mainstream cigarette (Sepetdjian et al., 2008).
Aldehydes have been established as a major group of compounds emitted from cigarettes (i.e. consumption of tobacco) (Baker, 2006a, Borgerding et al., 1997, Chepiga et al., 2000, Dong and Moldoveanu, 2004, Fujioka and Shibamoto, 2006, Hatzinikolaou et al., 2006, Rustemeier et al., 2002, Stabbert et al., 2003). In their review on the chemical composition of mainstream cigarette smoke, Hoffmann et al. (2001) show that the amounts of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein, which are primarily found in the gas phase, vary within the ranges 20–100, 400–1400 and 60–240 μg/cigarette, respectively (Hoffmann et al., 2001). Other studies show that the addition of sugars and flavors to cigarette tobacco results in an increase (up to 60%) in the amounts of aldehyde compounds produced (Baker, 2006a), and in altering the chemical composition of the smoke (Baker, 2006a).
The importance of assessing aldehyde compounds in narghile smoke lies in the fact that these compounds are known to be toxic, carcinogenic and hazardous. Formaldehyde, for example, is classified as a group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), causing sinonasal and nasopharyngeal cancer as well as leukemia (IARC, 2006). It is also suggested to cause irritation in the upper respiratory tract (Stabbert et al., 2003). Acetaldehyde, another volatile aldehyde present in tobacco smoke, is known as a nasal carcinogen in rodents (Stabbert et al., 2003). As for acrolein, it affects the function of the immune system, particularly T-cells, by inhibiting cytokine gene expression (Lambert et al., 2007). Furthermore, volatile aldehydes in tobacco smoke, particularly formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, are considered “minor” contributors to the occurrence of lung cancer in smokers, and “major” contributors to chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) (Hoffmann et al., 1997).
This study identifies and quantifies major aldehyde compounds in the gas and particle phases of mainstream narghile smoke, and assesses their partitioning between the two phases.
Section snippets
Materials and reagents
H30 Lp-DNPH SPE cartridges, the mixture of standard carbonyl compounds (Carb Method DNPH Mix 1) and a reverse phase C-18 Discovery high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) column were obtained from Supelco. HPLC grade acetonitrile (ACN), CAS registry number 75-05-8, and Tetrahydrofuran, CAS registry number 109-99-9, were obtained from Acros. Powdered 2,4-dinitrophenyl hydrazine (DNPH), CAS registry number 119-26-6, was provided by Merick. Tobacco mixture with the brand name Nakhla Tobacco
Results and discussion
Aldehyde yields for six repeated smoking sessions are summarized in Table 1. To account for the inherent variability of the smoking method (see Shihadeh, 2003), the results shown in Table 1 are normalized by the amount of tobacco mixture consumed in a given session.
The results show that among the aldehyde target compounds, only formaldehyde is found in significant proportions in the particle phase of the smoke. This may be attributed to the higher solubility of formaldehyde in water as compared
Conclusion
Several conclusions may be drawn from the obtained results. First, the identified aldehyde compounds are found exclusively in the gas phase of narghile smoke, except for formaldehyde. Approximately 40% of the amount of formaldehyde found in mainstream narghile smoke is in the particulate phase. This could be explained by the high solubility of formaldehyde in the water-rich aerosol of mainstream narghile smoke, in contrast to the other identified species. The partitioning constant for
Conflict of interest statement
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
Acknowledgements
This project was supported by Research for International Tobacco Control (RITC), a secretariat of the International Development Research Centre, and by Grant Number R01 CA120142 from the U.S. National Cancer Institute. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the RITC, the U.S. National Cancer Institute or the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The authors would like to also thank Dr. Rima Habib and Dean Iman Nuwayhid for
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