Proposed Project: Procedures

• exp3 Impact of Prenatal Environmental Toxins on Adolescent Cortical Thickness

  • Long-term consequences of prenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking on cortical thickness maps:
    • cross-sectional study of adolescents from the Saguenay-Lac- Saint-Jean region,
    • pilot study ended: 34 teens (age 12-17, 13boys, 21girls) including 9 sib-pairs
    • actively recruiting at present (target n=1000, or 500 sib-pairs aged 12-18)
    • two matched groups, differing only in maternal exposure to cigarette smoking during pregnancy,
    • In addition to comparison of cortical thickness maps, a dose-response analysis will be performed to determine degree of correlation of exposure to nicotine to observed anatomical differences,