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They’re often marketed as a safer alternative to smoking , but a new study may put you off reaching for that e-cigarette.

Researchers from the University of California , Riverside, have found that e-cigarettes produce a stress response in neural stem cells, which are critical in the brain.

Stem cells are unspecialised cells with the ability to grow into any one of the body's more than 200 cell types.

Using neural stem cells from mice, the researchers found that electronic cigarettes affect the mitochondria (organelles that serve as the cells' powerhouses) within the cells.

(Image: Getty Images/Science Photo Libra)

This mechanism is known as ‘stress-induced mitochondrial hyperfusion’ (SIMH).

Professor Prue Talbot, who led the study, said: “SIMH is a protective, survival response. Our data show that exposure of stem cells to e-liquids, aerosols, or nicotine produces a response that leads to SIMH."

The study revealed that the nicotine from e-cigarettes causes the neural stem cells to become overloaded with calcium.

This calcium overload causes the cells’ mitochondria to swell, and eventually rupture. Ultimately, this leads to cell death.

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Dr Atena Zahedi, first author of the study, explained: “If the nicotine stress persists, SIMH collapses, the neural stem cells get damaged and could eventually die.

“If that happens, no more specialised cells can be produced from stem cells."

While e-cigarettes are often positioned as ‘safer’ than cigarettes, the researchers hope their findings will highlight that this may not be the case.

Dr Zahedi added: “Although originally introduced as safer, [e-cigarettes], such as Vuse and JUUL, are not harmless.

“Even short-term exposure can stress cells in a manner that may lead, with chronic use, to cell death or disease. Our observations are likely to pertain to any product containing nicotine."