title: Aortic intima-media thickness in nicotine-exposed rat pups during gestation and lactation period.
abstract: There have been several studies confirming an association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and low birth weight. The detrimental effect of nicotine exposure beginning in fetal life continues during lactation, in infancy and in the early childhood period. In our previous studies, we found increased aortic intima-media thickness (aIMT) as a preatherosclerotic lesion in neonates with intrauterine growth restriction and in infants of smoking mothers. We aimed to evaluate histopathologically the effect of nicotine exposure during pregnancy and lactation period on fetal growth and aIMT at postnatal 45 days of age (end of the mid-adolescent period) in rat pups living in the same conditions. Gravid rats were assigned into three groups. In nicotine A, pregnant rats received 6 mg/kg/day nicotine intraperitoneally during pregnancy from 1 to 21 days of gestation and lactation (until postnatal day 21). Nicotine B received 3 mg/kg/day nicotine for the same period. Control pregnant rats received only saline intraperitoneally. Abdominal aIMT was studied histopathologically at postnatal 45 days of age. Nicotine exposure resulted in decreased birth weight and pregnancy weight gain. The mean aIMT values of the rat pups exposed to nicotine in both nicotine A and B groups were higher than those of the control group (103.78 ± 21.33 μm, 99.11 ± 30.12 μm, and 62.56 ± 7.18 μm, respectively). In conclusion, the detrimental effect on birth weight of nicotine exposure that began in fetal life is dose dependent. Nicotine exposure during intrauterine life and the lactation period causes increased aIMT in rat pups.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey.
authors.forename: Tamer
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gunes
authors.forename: Mustafa Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Akin
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Canoz
authors.forename: Dilek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Coban
authors.forename: Bahar
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ozcan
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kose
authors.forename: M Adnan
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ozturk
authors.forename: Selim
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kurtoglu
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D001724:Birth Weight / Q000187:drug effects*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D007274:Injections, Intraperitoneal; D007774:Lactation; D008297:Male; D018811:Maternal Exposure; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange / Q000187:drug effects*; D009538:Nicotine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects*; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000139:chemically induced*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D017540:Tunica Media / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D018722:Nicotinic Agonists; D009538:Nicotine