Introduction:
This article, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation in 1999, explores the effects of prenatal nicotine exposure on fetal monkey lung development. The study aimed to determine if nicotine directly interacts with nicotinic cholinergic receptors (naChRs) during lung development and alters fetal lung development.
Key Points:
* The study used rhesus monkeys treated with nicotine from days 26 to 134 of pregnancy.
* Nicotine administration caused lung hypoplasia and reduced surface complexity of developing alveoli.
* Immunohistochemistry and in situ a-bungarotoxin (aBGT) binding showed that a7 naChRs are present in the developing lung in airway epithelial cells, cells surrounding large airways and blood vessels, alveolar type II cells, free alveolar macrophages, and pulmonary neuroendocrine cells (PNEC).
* Nicotine administration markedly increased a7 receptor subunit expression and binding in the fetal lung.
* Collagen expression surrounding large airways and vessels was significantly increased, correlating with areas of increased a7 expression.
* Nicotine significantly increased numbers of type II cells and neuroendocrine cells in neuroepithelial bodies.
Main Message:
The study demonstrates that nicotine can alter fetal monkey lung development by crossing the placenta to interact directly with nicotinic receptors on non-neuronal cells in the developing lung. These findings suggest that similar effects likely occur in human infants whose mothers smoke during pregnancy, emphasizing the importance of smoking cessation during pregnancy to ensure proper fetal lung development and reduce the risk of respiratory illnesses in newborns.
Citation
Sekhon, harmanjatinder S., Yibing Jia, Renee Raab, alexander Kuryatov, James F. Pankow, Jeffrey a. Whitsett, Jon Lindstrom, and Eliot R. Spindel. “Prenatal Nicotine Increases Pulmonary Α7 Nicotinic Receptor Expression and alters Fetal Lung Development in Monkeys.” Journal of Clinical Investigation 103, no. 5 (March 1, 1999): 637–47. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI5232.
Sekhon, harmanjatinder S., Yibing Jia, Renee Raab, alexander Kuryatov, James F. Pankow, Jeffrey a. Whitsett, Jon Lindstrom, and Eliot R. Spindel. “Prenatal Nicotine Increases Pulmonary Α7 Nicotinic Receptor Expression and alters Fetal Lung Development in Monkeys.” Journal of Clinical Investigation 103, no. 5 (March 1, 1999): 637–47. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI5232.
