Maternal smoking while pregnant may result in conduct disorder of the offspring, particularly where there’s a genetic predisposition already according to a paper from last May:
Baler RD, Volkow ND, Fowler JS, Benveniste H., “Is fetal brain monoamine oxidase inhibition the missing link between maternal smoking and conduct disorders?,” J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2008 May;33(3):187-95.
Enzymes that degrade serotonin and dopamine (MAO’s) also play a role in brain development in utero. Smoking impairs MAO production, resulting in impaired fetal brain development. This, combined with the effects of nicotine on the fetal brain, as well as any genetic predisposition for low MAO activity (already associated with aggresssive behavior) may result in conduct disorder, later blooming into more of a psychopathy. From the “discussion” section:
. . . Here we hypothesize that inhibition of brain monoamine oxidase (MAO) during fetal brain development, secondary to maternal cigarette smoking and in addition to nicotine, is a likely contributor to this association. MAOs play a central role in monoaminergic balance in the brain, and their inhibition during fetal development — but not during adult life — is known to result in an aggressive phenotype in laboratory animals. This paper provides theoretical and experimental support for the notion that cigarette smoke–induced inhibition of MAO in the fetal brain, particularly when it occurs in combination with polymorphisms in the MAOA gene that lead to lower enzyme concentration in the brain, may result in brain morphologic and functional changes that enhance the risk of irritability, poor self-control and aggression in the offspring.. . .
By no means am I virulent anti-smoking, in fact, smoking is just another chemical addiction. I don’t sit in judgment, I consider it the genetic lottery. And the last thing I want to do is control pregnant women. But, given that in the ’60′s and ’70′s there was so much smoking, drinking and drugging going on, are the offspring from that era all suffering the effects? Is this why there is such widespread acceptance of a total lack of business ethics?
My mother was a heavy smoker and I’ve felt that this was why my sister and I both have pretty severe problems controlling our anger. We kind of flip out at the drop of a hat. And it isn’t like we’re bad people; we just have this problem, and we both go out of our way to avoid situations where we might flip out and hurt someone.
Our mother was never this way (but her mother didn’t smoke) and my sister and I had different fathers. Mine was kind of violent, yes, but my sister’s father was as mild-mannered as a person can get.
For the sake of society, I think that smoking while pregnant should be illegal.
Hey CP,
Thanks for the comment — anger is a tough one, and the bio-neuro research is all over the map — but smoking is a problem. Now tobacco is regulated, maybe everyone will need a prescription.
For instance, smoking is associated with gene regulation that reduces serotonin (blogged here).
Here’s more info from last October (press release from publisher of a journal):