Effects of prenatal nicotine and inflammation on respiratory function and structure in the newborn

This thesis was broadly directed at understanding how maternal inflammation and smoking have a deleterious impact on the development of the fetus and newborn. The studies outlined in this thesis showed that the two insults harm the fetus and newborn by reducing growth, by increasing the likelihood of preterm birth, and by adversely affecting lung development and the control of breathing by increasing the propensity for unstable breathing patterns and apnea in surviving pups. When the dose of nicotine given to pregnant mice matched that present in the blood of a heavy smoker, almost all the offspring died on the day of delivery. Alarmingly, maternal infection and smoking are common in Australia affecting approximately 25,000 pregnancies each year. There is currently no published evidence that establishes how nicotine could produce the lethal effect we have observed in newborn mice; thus, to our knowledge, our animal data are a world first. By confirming one of the underlying mechanisms that contribute to lethality in newborn mice; our work cautions against smoking or the use of NRT during pregnancy.