Pot During Pregnancy May Harm Fetal Brain

Scientists may have figured out how marijuana use during pregnancy harms the fetal brain.

Basically, marijuana's active ingredient, tetrahdyrocannabinol (THC), may interfere with the development of nerve cells, according to the molecular biologist Tibor Harkany, PhD, who works at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), previous research
has shown that some children born to women who abused marijuana during
pregnancy may show signs of neurological problems in development and problems with memory and attention.

Using cell cultures from mice and frogs, Harkany and colleagues studied a certain type of receptor in the brain. Those receptors latch onto chemicals called endocannabinoids.

The researchers explain that in a fetus, those receptors guide the development of axons, which are the long fibers of nerve cells. As the
fetal brain develops, axons position themselves so they can communicate with
each other.

But that process goes awry in mice with genes for impaired cannabinoid
receptors. Those mice's axons didn't position themselves properly in Harkany's study. That could create communication problems between axons.

THC may mimic those effects in the fetal brain when used during pregnancy,
note Harkany and colleagues. However, they didn't directly test that theory.

The study appears in the journal Science.



By Miranda Hitti
Reviewed by Louise Chang
?2007 WebMD, Inc. All rights reserved

[susieq_13]

Well, I don't know what my IQ is, but my mom smoked it with all of us and I smoked it while I was pregnant, and I still do. Not one of us has a problem like they are describing. What BS! Study something else! Something that truley matters.

[briannorwood]

I was going to comment about this, but I forgot what I wanted to say.

[clevercandi]

What bs! My sister smoked with all 3 of her children. The oldest is on the Dean's list at his college, and the twins are graduating from high school with honors.

I also smoke on a regular basis. My IQ is 128.

[brianbwb-2009]

Ok, check out the other WebMD topics here, Botox and aspirin may be good, pot may be evil. So we are to simply forget all the other clinically proven as well as anecdotal evidence for the benefits of pot, like chemotherapy side effect mitigation, glaucoma and menstrual cramp relief, appetite stimulant, mild aphrodisiac, agression inhibitor, and many more, too many to list here, that mankind (and womankind) enjoyed (and will continue to) probably since before recorded history? Not to forget that it is simply enjoyable...

[jankebenz]

judging by the comments posted here, I would have to say some of you are afected by excessive THC in the upper regions of your head.Of course pot smoking interferes with brain devlopment and capacity, no rocket science needed ther

[brucesmall]

"she smokes pot every day..its our kids and its knowones business"

Gee, one would never know you are a pot family.

[gkc99]

Ya think WebMD might run a piece on how many have been murdered in Iraq? What a 500 lb bomb from a US AF jet dropped on a mud brick apartment building does to an unborn baby?

Or are they too deep in the pocket of the fascists--warning us about how oral *** might cause throat cancer, but quiet as little Jerry Falwell coffin rats about what Agent Orange does to the genetic makeup of sperm?

[terrapin78]

An 8 ball daily?

That's a lot of scratch for HW to pay for. No wonder they family is so CROOKED!

[terrapin78]

Barbara Bu$h musta been smokin' da reefer when she was preggo with Dumbya!!!!