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Maternal Nicotine Exposure Induces Congenital Heart Defects In The Offspring Of Mice, Elizabeth Greco
Maternal Nicotine Exposure Induces Congenital Heart Defects In The Offspring Of Mice, Elizabeth Greco
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Congenital heart defects are the most prevalent birth defect, and maternal cigarette smoking is a known risk factor. Nicotine replacement therapies are recommended to pregnant women who smoke to aid in smoking cessation, as this alternative is thought to be much safer compared to cigarette smoking. However, these products contain nicotine, and the safety of nicotine on the developing heart is not well known. In this thesis, a mouse model was used to test the hypothesis that maternal nicotine exposure (MNE) during pregnancy leads to congenital heart defects and coronary artery defects in the offspring of mice. MNE resulted in …
Role Of Nitric Oxide In Embryonic Heart Development And Adult Aortic Valve Disease, Yin Liu
Role Of Nitric Oxide In Embryonic Heart Development And Adult Aortic Valve Disease, Yin Liu
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common birth defect in infants. Identifying factors that are critical to embryonic heart development or CHDs in general could further our understanding of the disease and may lead to new strategies of its prevention and treatment. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (NOS3/eNOS) is known for many important biological functions including vasodilation, vascular homeostasis and angiogenesis. Previous studies have shown that deficiency in NOS3 results in congenital septal defects, cardiac hypertrophy and postnatal heart failure. In addition, NOS3 is pivotal to morphogenesis of aortic valve and myocardial capillary development. The aim of my thesis was …