Preliminary study of catalase enzyme activity in blood plasma of vaping, smoking and healthy subjects / Nurhazirah Zulkefli

Tobacco smoking has been associated with various degenerative pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases. This is due to the 4000 different chemicals that make up the cigarette which promotes oxidative stress. Smokers find it difficult to quit even with the help of nicotine replacement therapy. With the introduction of E-cigarette, they found a new light to quit smoking. The potential of E-cigarette to cause oxidative stress has not been established. This study seeks to investigate the effects of vaping to oxidative stress. Catalase (CAT) assay kit is used to measure oxidative stress in treatment groups. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showed that there are statistically significant differences between the treatment groups. There were no statistically significant difference between the vaping group when compared with the smoking group (p = 0.108). Similarly when comparing vaping groups and healthy group, there were no statistically significant difference in CAT activity (p = 0.154). However, there were statistically significant difference between healthy group and smoking group. (p = 0.002). Therefore, no definite evidences that can be concluded in this research to suggest that vaping may cause oxidative stress. Further research need to be carried out to validate the results of this preliminary study.