Prenatal nicotine exposure and cognitive performance in rats
Abstract
In humans and animal models there is evidence that prenatal nicotine exposure causes lasting deficits in cognitive performance. The current study examined the cognitive effects of prenatal exposure of rats to 2 mg/kg/day of nicotine. This dose did not cause significant deficits in maternal weight gain, offspring litter size, or pup weight. The control offspring showed the normal ontogeny of spontaneous alternation from near chance (50%) performance to 80%-85% alternation. In contrast, the nicotine-exposed rats had the opposite progression with abnormally high alternation on days 22-30 and abnormally low alternation on days 35-52. Acquisition of choice accuracy performance on the radial-arm maze (RAM) was not altered in a major way by nicotine exposure. Minor nicotine-induced changes in choice accuracy were seen during the initial trials of acquisition. The nicotine exposed female offspring had a significantly longer response duration. Prenatal nicotine exposure did significantly alter the effects of subsequent drug challenges on choice accuracy performance. The nicotine-exposed male offspring were significantly more responsive to the amnestic effects of the nicotinic antagonist mecamylamine. In a subsequent challenge, the effects of the beta-adrenergic antagonist propranolol were examined. A significant dose-related impairment in choice accuracy was seen in the control rats. In contrast, the nicotine-exposed rats did not show any significant response to propranolol. This decreased responsiveness to adrenergic challenge parallels the reduction in adrenergic response to nicotine challenge we previously found in littermates to the rats of the current study. Prenatal nicotine exposure causes subtle alterations in cognitive performance that can be magnified by challenges of nicotinic and adrenergic systems.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Animal studies of prenatal nicotine exposure and cognitive development are more consistent, suggesting global learning and memory impairments.
“there is greater consistency among animal studies examining the effects of prenatal nicotine exposure on cognitive development, suggestive of global impairments in learning and memory.”
From Developmental toxicity of nicotine: A transdisciplinary synthesis and implications for emerging tobacco products (2017) · cites this paper as [184]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Huynh, H., & Feldt, L. S. (1970) · Journal of the American Statistical Association · doi:10.2307/2284340 · Cited by 945 · see citing works
Yanai, J., Pick, C. G., Rogel-Fuchs, Y., & Zahalka, E. A. (1992) · Brain Research Bulletin · doi:10.1016/0361-9230(92)90069-a · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Hagino, N., & Lee, J. W. (1985) · International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/0736-5748(85)90046-2 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
The effects of prenatal nicotine on radial-arm maze performance in rats
Sorenson, C. A., Raskin, L. A., & Suh, Y. (1991) · Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior · doi:10.1016/0091-3057(91)90117-k · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Environmental risk factors for attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder
Banerjee, T. D., Middleton, F., & Faraone, S. V. (2007) · Acta Paediatrica · doi:10.1111/j.1651-2227.2007.00430.x · Cited by 575 · see citing works
Slotkin, T. A. (2004) · Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology · doi:10.1016/j.taap.2003.06.001 · Cited by 544 · see citing works
Risks and Benefits of Nicotine to Aid Smoking Cessation in Pregnancy
Dempsey, D. A., & Benowitz, N. L. (2001) · Drug Safety · doi:10.2165/00002018-200124040-00005 · Cited by 346 · see citing works
Developmental cholinotoxicants: nicotine and chlorpyrifos
Slotkin, T. A. (1999) · Environmental Health Perspectives · doi:10.1289/ehp.99107s171 · Cited by 292 · see citing works
Effects of Nicotine During Pregnancy: Human and Experimental Evidence
Wickstrom, R. (2007) · Current Neuropharmacology · doi:10.2174/157015907781695955 · Cited by 256 · see citing works
Slotkin, T. A. (2008) · Neurotoxicology and Teratology · doi:10.1016/j.ntt.2007.09.002 · Cited by 206 · see citing works
England, L. J., Aagaard, K., Bloch, M., Conway, K., Cosgrove, K., Grana, R., Gould, T. J., Hatsukami, D., Jensen, F., Kandel, D., et al. (2017) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.11.013 · Cited by 181 · see citing works
Heath, C. J., & Picciotto, M. R. (2009) · Neuropharmacology · doi:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2008.07.020 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Cutler, A. (1996) · Neurotoxicology and Teratology · doi:10.1016/s0892-0362(96)00125-0 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Eppolito, A. K., Bachus, S. E., McDonald, C. G., Meador-Woodruff, J. H., & Smith, R. F. (2010) · Neurotoxicology and Teratology · doi:10.1016/j.ntt.2009.12.009 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Hall, B. J., Cauley, M., Burke, D. A., Kiany, A., Slotkin, T. A., & Levin, E. D. (2016) · Toxicological Sciences · doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfw042 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Early brain wiring: activity-dependent processes
Penn, A. A. (2001) · Schizophrenia Bulletin · doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.schbul.a006880 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Nicotine replacement therapy during pregnancy and child health outcomes: a systematic review
Blanc, J., Tosello, B., Ekblad, M. O., Berlin, I., & Netter, A. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph18084004 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Effects of pre-and neonatal nicotine exposure in rodents: inconsistent evidence
Sobrian, S. K., & Holson, R. R. (2011) · ILAR Journal · doi:10.1093/ilar.52.3.251 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Zugno, A. I., Oliveira, M. B., Mastella, G. A., Heylmann, A. S. A., Canever, L., Pacheco, F. D., Damazio, L. S., Citadin, S. A., de Lucca, L. A., Simões, L. R., et al. (2017) · Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2017.02.010 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
- Authors
- Levin, E. D., Briggs, S. J., Christopher, N. C., & Rose, J. E.
- Affiliations
- Duke Medical Center (US)
- Duke University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Levin, Edward D.
- ORCID
- Levin, Edward D.
- Venue
- Neurotoxicology and Teratology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1993-07
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 251-260
- ISSN
- 0892-0362 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2025340326
- Cited by
- 130
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 2.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neurotoxicology and Teratology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors Study
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Smoking Behavior and Cessation
- Keywords
- prenatal nicotine exposure, cognitive performance, spontaneous alternation, radial maze, mecamylamine, propranolol, nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, adrenergic system, offspring behavior
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Birth Weight, Body Weight, Cognition, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Female, Infusions, Intravenous, Learning, Male, Mecamylamine, Memory, Nicotine, Pregnancy, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects, Propranolol, Weight Gain, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Rats
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
