How pregnant e-cigarette use may affect children's brains and addiction risk
Official title: Effects of maternal e-cigarette aerosol exposure on nicotine's addiction-related behavioral and neurobiological effects in offspring
Funded at Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute · NIH-11300199 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at whether mothers' e-cigarette use during pregnancy changes their children's behavior and brain circuits linked to addiction.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Minneapolis, United States) |
| Project start | March 15, 2025 |
| Project end | December 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $709,610 |
| NIH project number | 5R01DA060187-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11300199 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
This project uses animal models and is not enrolling human participants, so patients cannot join.
✕Less likely to help
Pregnant people and their children cannot directly enroll or receive experimental interventions from this animal-only study.
What this research studies
If you are a pregnant person, this research aims to understand potential risks to your future child's brain and behavior by using animal models that mimic prenatal e-cigarette exposure. Scientists will expose pregnant animals to e-cigarette aerosols containing nicotine and other chemicals, then follow the offspring as they grow to see changes in activity, impulsive or addiction-like behaviors, and learning. The team will also examine changes in brain circuits and gene activity that control reward and reinforcement using laboratory molecular tests. Results are intended to help explain how prenatal exposure could increase risk for conditions like ADHD or later substance use.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the work could clarify risks of e-cigarette use in pregnancy and guide safer public-health advice or future prevention strategies for children.
How similar studies have gone: Previous rodent studies have reported adverse behavioral and genetic effects after prenatal e-cigarette exposure, but important details about mechanisms and long-term risks remain unclear.
Where this research is happening
-
Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute
Minneapolis, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Lesage, Mark G — Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute
- Study coordinator: Lesage, Mark G
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Reducing Addiction Risk in High Schools Through Better Prevention Infrastructure
Aims to build a sustainable, school-based system to prevent opioid and other drug use among high school students, especially those at higher risk.
-
HEAL Data Platform to share addiction-related data across programs
A platform project to make HEAL data from many programs easier to find and use, helping researchers and clinicians access information about addiction in children and youth.
-
Cognitively-enhanced tDCS to reduce cocaine craving
A study to test whether real brain stimulation together with learning strategies can lessen craving in people with cocaine use disorder.
-
Yale center researching how tobacco products affect use and addiction in people
A Yale research center is studying how nicotine, flavor additives, and other ingredients in tobacco products influence people’s likelihood of starting and becoming addicted.
-
Atherosclerosis in cocaine addiction: imaging risk with PET/MR
This project uses PET/MR imaging to look for early artery disease in people with cocaine use disorder to help prevent strokes or other brain injuries.
-
Integrating long-acting PrEP into street medicine for people who use drugs
This project tests whether a long-acting HIV prevention shot (lenacapavir) can be feasibly and acceptably offered by street-based health teams to people who use drugs.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.