The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: Recent research suggests that exposure to prenatal nicotine has long-term effects that persist into adolescence. The purpose of this symposium is to highlight emerging animal and human research investigating these long-term neurobiological and behavioral effects of prenatal nicotine exposure as expressed during adolescence. Each speaker will focus on “news you can use” and emphasize how laboratory research on prenatal tobacco smoke exposure can be help inform real-world experiences in the clinic. Drs. Allison Chausmer and Vincent Smeriglio will chair this panel of scientists.

Methods: The first two speakers will discuss preclinical research findings, and the second two speakers will discuss human laboratory and longitudinal research findings.

Results: Using an animal model of prenatal nicotine exposure, Dr. Theodore Slotkin will discuss findings indicating that the neurotoxic effects produced by prenatal nicotine exposure persist into adolescence. These mice, when challenged with nicotine as adolescents, display greater negative effects. Also using animal models, Dr. Frances Leslie will discuss results suggesting that rats exposed to prenatal nicotine display increased responses to cocaine during adolescence. Dr. Peter Fried will discuss data from a longitudinal study following the children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy and indicate that, as adolescents, they are more than twice as likely to initiate cigarettes smoking. Dr. Leslie Jacobsen will discuss cognitive and memory differences in adolescent smokers who were exposed to prenatal tobacco smoke, including findings that they experience greater nicotine withdrawal-related deficits in visuospatial memory tasks, and display different brain activation patterns as measured by fMRI.