الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
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 |