Figure 6.

Summary of findings

Left: Schematic summarizes the various in vivo and ex vivo murine and human models used (top) and the readouts assessed (bottom) in this work to study the impact of vaping on the gut barrier. Right: The major findings and conclusions from this study showing how e-cig vapors can trigger distinct events (from top to bottom), such as epithelial barrier disruption, which is permissive to altered gene expression (lower occludin and higher cytokines), and heightened susceptibility for and response to bacterial infections, culminating in chronic inflammation and epithelial stress response. Potential feedforward loops that could set up a vicious loop of mucosal injury are indicated using bidirectional arrows.