Behavior Problems Linked to Nicotine Exposure During Pregnancy

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Behavior Problems Linked to Nicotine Exposure During Pregnancy

Women who are pregnant or contemplating pregnancy should avoid exposure to

nicotine, warns a new study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

Behavior problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) could

affect children born to mothers who light up during pregnancy.

Nicotine during pregnancy is never good for children

The evidence against smoking and exposure to nicotine during pregnancy is ever

growing. Marjorie Greenfield, MD, notes that complications such as miscarriage,

premature birth, low birth weight, placental abruption, and premature rupture of

the membranes are all more common among women who are heavy smokers during

pregnancy.

Even among light smokers, nicotine causes spasms of the arteries that supply

blood to the placenta. This reduces the amount of oxygen and nutrients the fetus

receives, which can result in underweight infants. Research shows that even

secondhand smoke has an impact on the fetus, and that the risk of sudden infant

death is greater than among nonsmokers.

In new study from UAB, which was presented at Neuroscience 2010 in San Diego,

the researchers used a mouse model to determine the impact of exposure to

nicotine during pregnancy. They found that such exposure caused a decline in the

number of adult stem cells and a change in synaptic plasticity in the

hippocampus in the brain (the area most involved with learning and memory) of

offspring.

According to Robin Lester, PhD, associate professor in the Department of

Neurobiology and the main investigator, “failure to correctly incorporate

newborn cells into the circuitry of the hippocampus--and the resulting

disruption of neural pathways essential to learning—could account for some of

the behavioral problems observed in the lives of children of mothers who smoke

during pregnancy,” such as ADHD, learning difficulties, and cognitive deficits.

Results of the UAB study are important because they suggest that the impact of

nicotine on newborns is “more dramatic” and “may indicate increased risk and/or

susceptibility for damage to the learning processes during pregnancy,” notes

Shay Hyman, a doctoral student in Lester’s laboratory. Thus women have yet

another reason to avoid exposure to nicotine during pregnancy: the potential for

behavior problems in their children.