# Project 2 - Impact of Adolescent Vaping on Brain Health

> **NIH NIH P01** · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2024 · $307,347

## Abstract

ABSTRACT – PROJECT 2: Impact of Adolescent Vaping on Brain Health
There is growing concern that vaping nicotine may affect brain health during adolescence, a period of rapid
maturation. Nicotine directly affects nicotinic cholinergic receptors throughout the nervous system resulting in
functional changes in many late developing brain regions, including areas implicated in attention, memory,
executive function, social cognition, and emotion processing. Prior research established that nicotine (in animal
models) and smoking (in humans) affects brain structure and function; cognitive and psychosocial function;
and autonomic regulation. However, very little is known about how vaping nicotine, including frequency of use,
product characteristics, and cumulative exposure, impacts adolescent brain health. Furthermore, other
chemical constituents of vaping aerosols (e.g., acrolein) that could also affect brain development. Our
overarching hypothesis is that vaping affects brain health in specific regions/networks and associated
cognitive/psychosocial domains related to attention, memory, executive function, social cognition, and emotion
processing. Our novel mechanistic hypothesis is that the effects of vaping on the brain are related to shifts in
autonomic nervous system towards increased sympathetic and diminished parasympathetic tone with
associated changes in cerebral blood flow and connectivity in regions and networks of interest. Our three
Specific Aims are 1) Determine the effects of vaping on brain function and structure in adolescents; 2) Examine
the effects of vaping on cognitive and psychosocial development, 3) Assess the effects of vaping on autonomic
nervous system function. We will assess 360 adolescents recruited from the longitudinal Online Survey for a
Lab-Based Study, using a 2:1 ratio of Current Vapers to Never Tobacco Users, minimizing potential confounds
with additional exclusion criteria (e.g., marijuana use). Participants will be tested at a 2 time points, 18 months
apart. This study will be the first and largest to date that longitudinally quantifies key physiological and
developmental changes associated with adolescent vaping, providing data on the impact of vaping on brain
structural/functional, cognitive and psychosocial maturation and autonomic nervous system function. The
findings from Project 2 will be utilized by Project 4 as potential targets for vaping prevention messages.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10836403
- **Project number:** 5P01CA269048-02
- **Recipient organization:** WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** CHRISTOPHER T WHITLOW
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $307,347
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-05-01 → 2028-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10836403

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10836403, Project 2 - Impact of Adolescent Vaping on Brain Health (5P01CA269048-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10836403. Licensed CC0.

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