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Review
. 2020 Nov 1;178(1):3-15.
doi: 10.1093/toxsci/kfaa127.

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

Laiba Jamshed  1 , Genevieve A Perono  1 , Shanza Jamshed  1 , Alison C Holloway  1
Affiliations
Review

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

Laiba Jamshed et al. Toxicol Sci. .

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 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 nicotine replacement therapy 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.

Keywords: childhood cancer; dysmetabolism; electronic nicotine delivery system (e-cigarettes); fetal programming of adult disease; lung development; neurotoxicity; nicotine; nicotine replacement therapy (NRT); pregnancy.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Summary, from animal studies, of the effects of prenatal nicotine exposure on the brain, heart, lungs, metabolic-regulating tissues and cancer.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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