PMID- 1760870
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 19920212
LR  - 20190828
IS  - 0165-3806 (Print)
IS  - 0165-3806 (Linking)
VI  - 62
IP  - 1
DP  - 1991 Sep 19
TI  - Prenatal nicotine exposure selectively affects perinatal forebrain aromatase 
      activity and fetal adrenal function in male rats.
PG  - 23-31
AB  - Previous studies have revealed effects of prenatal nicotine treatment on fetal 
      plasma testosterone and perinatal sexual brain differentiation in the rat. In an 
      attempt to further elucidate the processes underlying this action of nicotine, we 
      studied the effect of the drug on brain steroid aromatase which converts 
      androgens to estrogens and is known to be important in sexual brain 
      differentiation. Aromatase activity (AA) was measured by the conversion of [1 
      beta-3H]-androstenedione to estrone in a brain region comprising preoptic, 
      hypothalamic and amygdaloid areas. In untreated animals, the development of AA 
      between gestational day (GD) 18 and postnatal day (PN) 15 was similar in both 
      sexes, except for a significant drop of AA in female brain at PN6, i.e., during 
      the later part of the critical period for sexual brain differentiation. When 
      time-pregnant rats were treated with nicotine delivered by an osmotic minipump 
      for either one week (2 mg/kg/d or 6 mg/kg/d from GD12) or two weeks (6 mg/kg/d 
      from GD8), their male offspring showed a decrease of AA to female levels at PN6, 
      the sex difference existing at this stage thus being abolished. AA of offspring 
      from dams bearing tartaric acid-containing minipumps or sham-operated at GD8 or 
      GD12 was identical to that of untreated controls. No drug effect was seen in 
      female fetuses and offspring. Sex differences in the developmental effect of 
      nicotine may thus involve brain aromatase. An additional sex-dependent effect of 
      nicotine was observed in the male fetal adrenal axis at GD18. Whether the drug 
      effects on the two steroid hormone systems are interrelated, remains to be 
      elucidated.
FAU - von Ziegler, N I
AU  - von Ziegler NI
AD  - Institute of Pharmacology, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
FAU - Schlumpf, M
AU  - Schlumpf M
FAU - Lichtensteiger, W
AU  - Lichtensteiger W
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PL  - Netherlands
TA  - Brain Res Dev Brain Res
JT  - Brain research. Developmental brain research
JID - 8908639
RN  - 6M3C89ZY6R (Nicotine)
RN  - EC 1.14.14.1 (Aromatase)
RN  - W980KJ009P (Corticosterone)
SB  - IM
MH  - Adrenal Glands/*drug effects/embryology
MH  - Animals
MH  - Aromatase/*metabolism
MH  - Corticosterone/blood
MH  - Female
MH  - Fetus/drug effects/physiology
MH  - Infusion Pumps, Implantable
MH  - Male
MH  - Nicotine/administration & dosage/*toxicity
MH  - Pregnancy
MH  - *Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects
MH  - Prosencephalon/*drug effects/enzymology/growth & development
MH  - Radioimmunoassay
MH  - Rats
MH  - Reproducibility of Results
MH  - *Sex Characteristics
EDAT- 1991/09/19 00:00
MHDA- 1991/09/19 00:01
CRDT- 1991/09/19 00:00
PHST- 1991/09/19 00:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 1991/09/19 00:01 [medline]
PHST- 1991/09/19 00:00 [entrez]
AID - 0165-3806(91)90186-M [pii]
AID - 10.1016/0165-3806(91)90186-m [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Brain Res Dev Brain Res. 1991 Sep 19;62(1):23-31. doi: 
      10.1016/0165-3806(91)90186-m.