Early Life Exposure to Nicotine: Postnatal Metabolic, Neurobehavioral and Respiratory Outcomes and the Development of Childhood Cancers

Abstract

Cigarette smoking during pregnancy is associated with numerous obstetrical, fetal and developmental complications, as well as an increased risk of adverse health consequences in the adult offspring. Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and electronic nicotine delivery systems (e-cigarettes) have been developed as a pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation and are considered safer alternatives for women to smoke during pregnancy. The safety of NRT use during pregnancy has been evaluated in a limited number of short-term human trials, but there is currently no information on the long-term effects of developmental nicotine exposure in humans. However, animal studies suggest that nicotine alone may be a key chemical responsible for many of the long-term effects associated with maternal cigarette smoking on the offspring and increases the risk of adverse neurobehavioral outcomes, dysmetabolism, respiratory illness and cancer. This review will examine the long-term effects of fetal and neonatal nicotine exposure on postnatal health.

L-Leucine Improves Metabolic Disorders in Mice With in-utero Cigarette Smoke Exposure

“…The nicotine in cigarette smoke was found to reduce the uteroplacental blood flow leading to inefficient nutrition supplement for the growing fetus. Nicotine can also cross the blood-placental barrier to enter the fetal circulation to concentrate higher nicotine level than that in smoking mother, which further disrupted normal development of the endocrine, neurologic, respiratory, and cardiovascular systems (Lisboa et al, 2012 ; Holbrook, 2016 ; Jamshed et al, 2020 ). In addition, CO inhibits oxygen delivery to the cells and cause in utero hypoxia due to a great affinity to hemoglobin and increases carboxyhemoglobin levels in umbilical arteries (Ko et al, 2014 ).…”

Identification of newly formed toxic chemicals in E-cigarette aerosols with Orbitrap mass spectrometry and implications on E-cigarette control

“…37 Prenatal exposure to nicotine via ENDS aerosol was also demonstrated in experimental studies to increase the risk of metabolic diseases, respiratory disorders, and cancer in offspring. 38 The nicotinecontaining compounds that we identified could mimic and exacerbate the adverse developmental effects of nicotine, warranting a thorough toxicological characterization in future studies. NIC-PG could also exert neurotoxicity to the still developing brains of adolescent ENDS users as well as the brains of children exposed to secondhand or thirdhand (e.g.…”

Maternal Nicotine Exposure Alters Hippocampal Microglia Polarization and Promotes Anti-inflammatory Signaling in Juvenile Offspring in Mice

“…Being altricial species, both humans and rodents undergo a pre and postnatal series of highly regulated, sequential changes to cell specialization, known as critical periods in central nervous system (CNS) development ( Morgane et al, 1993 ). Exposure to nicotine, particularly when occurs during critical developmental periods, can adversely affect brain, immune system ( Yan et al, 2020 ), and other systems throughout the body ( Chen et al, 2020 ; Jamshed et al, 2020 ; Jian et al, 2020 ; McAlinden et al, 2020 ; Miranda et al, 2020 ). Chronic nicotine exposure in utero could alter neuronal cytoarchitecture, nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) expression, and function of neurotransmitter systems ( Lv et al, 2008 ; Gold et al, 2009 ).…”