Clinical Studies of Infants and Children Exposed Prenatally to Heroin

Cognitive function of youths born to mothers with opioid and poly-substance abuse problems during pregnancy

“…The significant effect sizes were in the range of approximately 0.5 to 0.9 standard deviations. The combination of cognitive functions within the normal range but significantly worse than a non-exposed group is in accordance with previous studies of young children with prenatal opioid or poly-drug exposure (Bauman & Levine, 1986;Bunikowski et al, 1998;Hans & Jeremy, 2001;Hunt et al, 2008;Johnson et al, 1984;Logan et al, 2011;van Baar & de Graaff, 1994;Wilson, 1989;Wilson et al, 1979) and youths with such prenatal exposure (Davis & Templer, 1988;Ornoy et al, 2010).…”

“…Some studies find that young children who have been exposed to opioids and multiple substances have greater impairments in general cognitive abilities than non-exposed children (Bunikowski et al, 1998;Hunt et al, 2008;Johnson, Diano, & Rosen, 1984;Logan et al, 2013;Moe, 2002a;Moe & Slinning, 2001;Salo et al, 2009;van Baar & de Graaff, 1994;Wahlsten & Sarman, 2013;Wilson, 1989;Wilson, McCreary, Kean, & Baxter, 1979), whereas others do not find such differences either before (de Cubas & Field, 1993;Kaltenbach & Finnegan, 1989;Melinder et al, 2013;Rosen & Johnson, 1985;Strauss, Lessen-Firestone, Chavez, & Stryker, 1979) or after controlling for covariates (Bauman & Levine, 1986;Lifschitz, Wilson, Smith, & Desmond, 1985;Messinger et al, 2004).…”

Morphine Inhibits Purkinje Cell Survival and Dendritic Differentiation in Organotypic Cultures of the Mouse Cerebellum

“…Alterations in nutrition (72) and thyroid hormone (10), for example, can in turn affect dendritic differentiation. Psychosocial factors can also affect dendritic development (13,68), suggesting that the psychosocial problems associated with opiate drug abuse (7,12,32,33,71) could indirectly affect dendrogenesis. Despite the potential importance of indirect opiate effects, our findings show that opiates, through a direct action on the cerebellum, can intrinsically affect the morphogenesis of Purkinje cell dendrites.…”

“…Psychosocial and physical problems are associated with opiate abuse, as well as concurrent multi-drug use, and opiate abstinence in newborns. These confounding effects make it difficult to assess the cellular mechanisms by which opiates by themselves affect neuronal development (7,12,32,33,71). To address this problem, opiate-dependent changes in Purkinje cell morphogenesis were examined in bilaterally matched pairs of organotypic cultures exposed to morphine for 7 to 10 days.…”

Illicit substance use in pregnancy – a review

“…Previous studies have reported that greater than 50% of children of opiate-dependent women are not living with their biological parents by five years of age. 81,82 The National Institute on Drug Abuse Conference in 2004 concluded that further research into how the embryonic and fetal compartments are protected from toxic agents, the molecular and cellular mechanisms of placental transport, and effects of illicit drugs on endocrine, immune and angiogenic factors is required to start to address the deficiencies in our current level of knowledge. 8 …”