Establishment of a chick embryo shell-less culture system and its use to observe change in behavior caused by nicotine and substances from cigarette smoke

Early detection and removal of harmful factors are essential to the proper physical and psychological development of the fetus, presumably showing the effects during the prenatal period and after birth. As one procedure to ai d in understanding such factors, we have established a shell-less culture s ystem for video monitoring to observe change in behavior of 7-day-old chick embryos. Nicotine and aqueous cigarette smoke extract (ACSE) were selected for the present experiments, and the results showed a complete stoppage of swing-like movements by administrations of 10 mug nicotine and 1 x ACSE, p ossibly displaying paralytic symptoms. Quantitative analysis of nicotine in 1 x ACSE indicated that more than 10 mug of nicotine were contained in 100 mul of the extract. The present system, although in initial stage of devel opment, may be a useful preliminary screening procedure for perhaps supervi sion and warning about the environment surrounding pregnant women. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.