PRENATAL EXPOSURE TO NICOTINE MAKES RATS ALTERS THE RESPONSE OF ADULT RATS TO A STRESSOR OF EVERYDAY LIFE
One in every four American women continues to smoke cigarettes
during pregnancy despite warnings this might affect their
babies. A study of rats suggests one previously unsuspected
way that prenatal exposure to nicotine may alter a baby's
response to stressful situations even as an adult.
Dr. James Fewell and colleagues, University of Calgary, exposed
23 male and 25 female newborn rat pups to nicotine from day six
or seven of gestation until 21 days after birth. . . .
On being taken from the safety of their home cage and being
exposed to a simulated open field, the rats which had been
exposed to nicotine during fetal development had an attenuated
core temperature response compared to rats which had been
exposed to a placebo during fetal life. This would indicate
that fetal exposure to nicotine alters one component of the
bodies' response to a "stressor" of every day life. The
consequences of this altered thermogenic response remain to be
determined.
