FIGURE 1.

Maternal nicotine exposure altered the offspring’s physical development and exploration behavior. The experimental paradigm of maternal nicotine exposure (A) and tests in the offspring (B) were showed. Mice were terminated on PND20, and brain tissues were collected for further experiments after behavior tests were completed. (C) Birth weight and body weight gain throughout development were recorded. Open field test revealed that maternal nicotine exposure significantly increased the total distance traveled (D) of the offspring, but visibly reduced the immobility time (E), and exploration time in the center zone (F), as compared to the vehicle control (lower panel). The representative track diagram of open field test was showed (upper panel); *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, all data are means ± SEM.