Smoking ‘can damage livers of unborn children’

Cigarette smoking among pregnant mothers can have a damaging impact on their unborn children's livers, according to a new study.

The University of Edinburgh research used a novel technique to investigate the effects of maternal smoking on liver tissue, using pluripotent stem cells to build foetal liver tissue that was then exposed to a chemical cocktail similar to that found in cigarettes.

It was revealed that the combination of chemicals found in cigarettes caused more harm to foetal liver health more than the individual components would alone, potentially causing lasting harm.

The study also revealed that cigarette chemicals damaged the liver differently in male and female foetuses, with male tissue experiencing more liver scarring, while female tissue suffered more damage to cell metabolism. 

Dr David Hay, group leader at the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Regenerative Medicine, said: "This new approach means that we now have sources of renewable tissue that will enable us to understand the cellular effect of cigarettes on the unborn foetus."

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