July 25, 2006 - Dr. Malathi Srivatsan, assistant professor of molecular biology at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, has received a grant totalling nearly $200,000 from the prestigious National Institutes of Health to study the effects of nicotine on developing nervous systems.

Maternal tobacco consumption has been known for years to cause fetal growth retardation and neurobehavioral disturbances in offspring. Yet, due to the addictiveness of nicotine in tobacco, 20 percent of U.S. women of child bearing age are currently cigarette smokers, which adds more than $40 billion to rising healthcare costs.

Unlike adults and even at low doses, exposure to nicotine in newborn rat pups alters the development of nerve cells, known as neurons. Srivatsan will test the hypothesis that chronic exposure to nicotine "retards development of the nervous system among newborn rat pups due to altered influx of calcium through the calcium permeable nicotinic receptors."

Results from these experiments will begin to reveal the mechanism of nicotine’s action on survival and growth of the nerve cells in a newborn. Understanding the mechanism of action of nicotine on the developing nervous system will lead to finding possible means to treat children of cigarette smokers.

These studies will also provide crucial research experience to undergraduate students at ASU to stimulate interest in biomedical research while educating them about the harmful effects of smoking.

For more information contact Dr. Malathi Srivatsan at (870) 972-3167 or msrivatsan@astate.edu.