Effects of chronic prenatal nicotine exposure on gene expression in neurotransmitter systems of the rat carotid body chemoafferent pathway

Maternal smoking during pregnancy is a major risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and nicotine is the key component implicated. Impaired ventilatory and arousal responses to low PO2 (hypoxia) during sleep are hallmarks of SIDS that have been observed in infants of smoking mothers and linked to prenatal nicotine exposure in animal models. Low PO2 stimulates the carotid body (CB), which receives afferent innervation from the …