title: Fibronectin regulation by vitamin C treatment in kidneys of nicotinic mice offspring.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Maternal cigarette smoking causes health risks and developmental defects in the offspring. So far, many studies have been conducted to suppress the effects of nicotine. However, the effects of coadministration of vitamin C and nicotine on extracellular matrix have not gained enough attention.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study decided to investigate the effects of vitamin C on fibronectin expression in kidneys of mice offspring, treated with nicotine.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighteen female pregnant BALB/c mice were selected; six mice in the experimental group 1 (exp 1) received nicotine (3 mg/kg/day), six mice in the experimental group 2 (exp 2) received 3 mg/kg/day nicotine and 9 mg/kg/day vitamin C simultaneously, and six were used as the control group and received 3 mL/kg/day normal saline via intraperitoneal (IP) injection parallel to other groups, since the 6th day of gestation to the end of prenatal period. In the first days of delivery, fibronectin content of neonatal kidneys was studied by immunohistochemistry (IHC) assay and gene expression was studied by the real-time PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  IHC results showed that fibronectin reaction significantly increased in proximal convoluted tubules of exp 1 compared with the control offspring; on the other hand, fibronectin reaction decreased in the mice offspring of exp 2. Gene expression results showed that fibronectin expression in the exp 1 offspring significantly increased compared with the control ones and fibronectin expression decreased in the mice offspring of exp 2.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study revealed that vitamin C could reduce the fibronectin accumulation effects of nicotine on kidney.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pahang
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Nikravesh
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jalali
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ebrahimzadeh Bideskan
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Peyman
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zargari
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Ariane
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sadr Nabavi
keywords: Fibronectin; Kidney; Nicotine; Vitamin C