Effect of Prenatal Cigarette Smoke Exposure on Hematological Characteristics in Adult Rat Offspring

Maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy is associated with many severe developmental abnormalities on the fetus. The present study investigates the hematological parameters of the blood of adult rat offspring exposed prenatally to Cigarette Smoke (CS). Pregnant albino rats were exposed to CS 3 times/day (each 15 minutes) or room air (controls) from gestational day 0 to parturition. Hematological parameters were measured for 3 month–old adult offspring. Prenatal CS exposure significantly increases total leukocyte counts, monocytes (P 0.05), and lymphocytes (P 0.01); and significantly decreases mean corpuscular volume of red blood cells (P 0.05) in adult rat offspring as compared with controls. However, prenatal CS exposure had no significant effect on other hematological parameters, including red blood cells count, granulocytes, platelets, hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, red cell distribution width, prothrombin time, mean platelet volume and platelet distribution width in adult rat offspring. These findings may indicate that cigarette smoking during pregnancy is associated with a significant increase in total leukocyte counts, lymphocytes and monocytes, and significant decreases mean corpuscular volume of red blood cells of adult rat offspring.