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Abstract
Smoking is one of the most important public health problems.
Epidemiological study clearly indicates that infants and children of
smoking mother suffer from altered lung function, increased incidence
of respiratory infections, wheezing and asthma and also have a higher
incidence of sudden infant death syndrome. The structural basis of
these changes is largely unknown especially at the electron
microscope level. The recent discovery of the acetylcholine nicotinic
receptors in the developing lung suggests that nicotine may be the key
factor responsible of these changes. So, the aim of this study was to
determine if nicotine may alter the histological structure of the
developing lung, to determine if these changes will persist into older
ages, and to determine if these changes could be reversed after
nicotine withdrawal or they are irreversible.
In this study, forty pregnant rats were subdivided into two
groups, a control group (group A) and a nicotine-treated group
(group B), twenty rats each. In each group, the pregnancy of four rats
was terminated at the embryonic day (18-19), and the remaining
sixteen rats were allowed to continue pregnancy. group B received
nicotine by subcutaneous injections