The Effects of Nicotine on Forelimb Development in Rat Fetuses

Abstract

Objective: When nicotine was taken within pregnancy period, it passed into fetal circulation and causes fetal malformations.The aim of research is to determine the rate of cartilage/bone that belongs to fore limbs of fetus whose mothers exposed to nicotine.Material and method: The study has been planned as three mothers in each group.These groups were determined as control, low (3mg/kg) and high dose of nicotine (6mg/kg). The doses were given from first day to twentieth days of pregnancy. The mothers were sacrificed and fetuses were taken on 20th day. To 15 fetuses from each group was applied double staining protocol. The primery and secondery ossification centers of forelimbs were identified under stereomicroscope and photos were taken.Results: We determined that the ossification rates of the humerus were 43.71%, 38.79%, 31.42% in control, low and high dose nicotine groups respectively. The ossification of ulnas has been calculated as 46.08% in the control group, 35.77% in low dose of nicotine group, 30.32% in high dose of nicotine group. The region that exhibits ossification in radius was determined as 40.80% in the control group, 35.54% in the low dose of nicotine and 31.36% in the high dose of nicotine group.Conclusion: The decrease in the ossification rate of the examined bones was statistically significant (p <0.05) and it was determined that this situation was in a dose-dependent manner. In the future, we think that studies related to the treatment of teratogenic effects of nicotine on bone development may be beneficial.