Proof of nicotine transfer to rat pups through maternal breast feeding to evaluate the neurobehavioral consequences of nicotine exposure

This study investigates the passage of nicotine from lactating dams to their offspring through breast milk in the frame of a research focused to ascertain toxicological and neuro-behavioural effects on pups as consequence of either unavoidable (“passive”) or voluntary (“active”) maternal nicotine exposure. To this aim, plasmatic concentrations of nicotine and cotinine were determined by LC-MS/MS in Wistar rat pups whose mothers were orally administered with nicotine during lactation. Mothers were divided into voluntary consumption group, unavoidable consumption group, and controls. The limits of detection and quantification of the LC-MS/MS method were 0.20 and 0.65 ng/mL, respectively. Within-laboratory reproducibility (CV%) was