Prenatal exposure to nicotine: effects on prepulse inhibition and central nicotinic receptors.

The present experiment examined effects of prenatal nicotine exposure (6 mg/kg/day via osmotic minipump) throughout gestation on prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response (PPI) and on the density of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAchRs) in the brains of 5-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats. A total of 117 male and 103 female offspring were used. Prenatal nicotine reduced subsequent percent PPI to a 98 dB stimulus in female but not in male offspring. There was an inverse correlation between the percent of PPI and nAchR density in the cortex of male rats and the striatum of female rats.