Exposure of pregnant rats to cigarette-smoke condensate causes glomerular abnormalities in offspring
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Updated: May 17, 2026
Moderate Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Quantification of Social Behavior in Adult Rats
Published on: December 14, 2014
Milosz Zarzecki1, Marcin Adamczak, Antoni Wystrychowski
1Department of Nephrology, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland.
Background:
Higher blood pressure and albuminuria are found in offspring of mothers who smoke during pregnancy. Whether or not kidney development is affected by maternal smoking is unknown.
Methods:
Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly allocated to twice-daily cigarette smoke and nicotine condensate (1 mg/kg) or vehicle at day 10 of pregnancy until delivery.
Results:
Exposed offspring did not differ from control offspring with respect to body weight, kidney weight, albuminuria, and creatinine clearance. Both male and female offspring had higher tail-plethysmographic blood pressures and lower mean glomerular volume, podocyte, mesangial-cell, and endothelial-cell number, compared to control offspring.
Conclusions:
The data document that prenatal exposure to cigarette-smoke condensate containing nicotine influences normal kidney development and could predispose to higher blood pressures later in life.
