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Airway Alveolar Attachment Points and Exposure to Cigarette Smoke In Utero

Department of Pulmonary Physiology, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth, Western Australia; and Department of Respiratory Medicine, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr. Philip Robinson, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia 3052. E-mail: philrob{at}cryptic.rch.unimelb.edu.au

The harmful effects of in utero cigarette smoke exposure include increased asthma symptoms and reduced lung function during the neonatal period, increased airway responsiveness to inhaled stimuli, and an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome. Altered lung function may result from altered airway/lung structure. Airway dimensions, alveolar attachment points, and parenchymal elastin content were measured in 32 infants who died from sudden infant death syndrome and were grouped according to their perinatal cigarette smoke exposure. Compared with those without any exposure to cigarette smoke, the distance between alveolar attachments on airways was greater (p < 0.001) in infants exposed to cigarette smoke only in utero or both in utero and during the postnatal period but not different in those with only postnatal exposure. The percentage of elastin within the alveolar walls was similar in all the exposure groups. These findings suggest that in utero cigarette smoke exposure may result in abnormal airway function due to a reduction of the forces opposing airway narrowing.

Key Words: alveolar attachments • in utero cigarette smoke exposure • sudden infant death syndrome

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