Paper Title
The Effect of E-Cigarette Aerosol Condensate on Caspase 3 Gene Expression of the Developing Neural Retina in Chick Embryo

Abstract
Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use claims to be safer than smoking tobacco, as it subject its users to fewer chemicals and deliver nicotine by heating not combustion. However, the nature of the materials changes after heating to produce harmful compounds as particulates, heavy metals, carcinogens and neurotoxins such as carbonyl compounds and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Besides nicotine indirectly leads to an increase in the intraocular pressure (IOP) which triggers apoptosis. Moreover, e-cigarette long-term effect is still unknown.In this study, the effect of e-cigarette aerosol condensate containing nicotine was investigated on Caspase 3 gene expression in the chick embryo neural retina after the second wave of developmental apoptosis. The chick embryos were exposed to 2% and 5% of the aerosol condensate by injection at embryonic day 15, then continued to incubate for 48 hours, where retina were collectedafterward. Caspase 3 expression showed down regulation by 6 folds in samples treated with 2% of the condensate and 1 fold downregulated on samples treated with 5% of the condensate. This indicates that the treatment affected the neural retina and caspase 3 normal expression. Therefore, more research is needed to understand the full effect of e-cigarette on the developing vertebrate retinal tissue. Furthermore, e-cigarette aerosol needs to be analyzed, as its effect extends to non-smokers and the environment. Keywords - E-cigarette, Nicotine, Retina, Caspase 3, Chick Embryo.