Skip to main content
Journal cover image

Permanent, sex-selective effects of prenatal or adolescent nicotine exposure, separately or sequentially, in rat brain regions: indices of cholinergic and serotonergic synaptic function, cell signaling, and neural cell number and size at 6 months of age.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Slotkin, TA; MacKillop, EA; Rudder, CL; Ryde, IT; Tate, CA; Seidler, FJ
Published in: Neuropsychopharmacology
May 2007

Nicotine is a neuroteratogen that disrupts neurodevelopment and synaptic function, with vulnerability extending into adolescence. We assessed the permanence of effects in rats on indices of neural cell number and size, and on acetylcholine and serotonin (5HT) systems, conducting assessments at 6 months of age, after prenatal nicotine exposure, adolescent exposure, or sequential exposure in both periods. For prenatal nicotine, indices of cell number and size showed few abnormalities by 6 months, but there were persistent deficits in cerebrocortical choline acetyltransferase activity and hemicholinium-3 binding to the presynaptic choline transporter, a pattern consistent with cholinergic hypoactivity; these effects were more prominent in males than females. The expression of 5HT receptors also showed permanent effects in males, with suppression of the 5HT(1A) subtype and upregulation of 5HT(2) receptors. In addition, cell signaling through adenylyl cyclase showed heterologous uncoupling of neurotransmitter responses. Nicotine exposure in adolescence produced lasting effects that were similar to those of prenatal nicotine. However, when animals were exposed to prenatal nicotine and received nicotine subsequently in adolescence, the adverse effects then extended to females, whereas the net effect in males was similar to that of prenatal nicotine by itself. Our results indicate that prenatal or adolescent nicotine exposure evoke permanent changes in synaptic function that transcend the recovery of less-sensitive indices of structural damage; further, prenatal exposure sensitizes females to the subsequent adverse effects of adolescent nicotine, thus creating a population that may be especially vulnerable to the lasting behavioral consequences of nicotine intake in adolescence.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Neuropsychopharmacology

DOI

ISSN

0893-133X

Publication Date

May 2007

Volume

32

Issue

5

Start / End Page

1082 / 1097

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Synaptic Transmission
  • Signal Transduction
  • Sexual Maturation
  • Sex Characteristics
  • Serotonin
  • Receptors, Serotonin
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Rats
  • Psychiatry
  • Presynaptic Terminals
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Slotkin, T. A., MacKillop, E. A., Rudder, C. L., Ryde, I. T., Tate, C. A., & Seidler, F. J. (2007). Permanent, sex-selective effects of prenatal or adolescent nicotine exposure, separately or sequentially, in rat brain regions: indices of cholinergic and serotonergic synaptic function, cell signaling, and neural cell number and size at 6 months of age. Neuropsychopharmacology, 32(5), 1082–1097. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.npp.1301231
Slotkin, Theodore A., Emiko A. MacKillop, Charles L. Rudder, Ian T. Ryde, Charlotte A. Tate, and Frederic J. Seidler. “Permanent, sex-selective effects of prenatal or adolescent nicotine exposure, separately or sequentially, in rat brain regions: indices of cholinergic and serotonergic synaptic function, cell signaling, and neural cell number and size at 6 months of age.Neuropsychopharmacology 32, no. 5 (May 2007): 1082–97. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.npp.1301231.
Journal cover image

Published In

Neuropsychopharmacology

DOI

ISSN

0893-133X

Publication Date

May 2007

Volume

32

Issue

5

Start / End Page

1082 / 1097

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Synaptic Transmission
  • Signal Transduction
  • Sexual Maturation
  • Sex Characteristics
  • Serotonin
  • Receptors, Serotonin
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Rats
  • Psychiatry
  • Presynaptic Terminals