Mothers' smoking causes newborn discomfort

PARIS, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- French researchers say they have tied maternal smoking to an increased risk of discomfort in newborns.

The study, published in Biological Psychiatry, suggests significantly more discomfort among newborns of smoking mothers may be related to having less monoamine oxidase A an enzyme, which degrades chemicals involved in brain message-sending.

Monoamine oxidase A activity was reduced both in the pregnant smokers and in their newborns when the researchers tested for blood biomarkers of monoamine oxidase A activity in smoking and non-smoking pregnant women and in the cord blood of their newborns.

Smoke exposure-induced low monoamine oxidase A activity in the womb may affect fetus brain neurotransmission and create potential vulnerabilities to behavioral disorders later in life, study corresponding author Dr. Ivan Berlin of the University of Paris says. Monoamine oxidase A dysregulation can occur with or without interaction with nicotine's effect on the developing fetus, the study says.

"The findings may have implications for future research because it proposes a biological explanation for the previously demonstrated relationship between smoking during pregnancy and behavioral disorders in the offspring," Berlin says in a statement.