1. ¹Brain and Body Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
2. ²Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
3. ³Department of Counseling and Applied Developmental Psychology, Boston College, Boston, MA, USA
4. ⁴Child Development Department, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
5. ⁵CEGEP Jonquiere, Jonquiere, QC, Canada
6. ⁶University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada
7. ⁷University of Quebec in Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, QC, Canada

Correspondence: Dr T Paus, Brain and Body Centre, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK. Tel: +44 115 9515362; Fax: +44 115 8468274; E-mail: tomas.paus@nottingham.ac.uk

Received 16 March 2007; Revised 17 May 2007; Accepted 18 May 2007; Published online 4 July 2007.

Abstract

Smoking during pregnancy is associated with long-term consequences on offspring behavior. We measured thickness of the cerebral cortex using magnetic resonance images obtained in 155 adolescents exposed in utero to maternal smoking and compared them with 159 non-exposed subjects matched by maternal education. Orbitofrontal, middle frontal, and parahippocampal cortices were thinner in exposed, as compared with non-exposed, individuals; these differences were more pronounced in female adolescents. In exposed females, the thickness of the orbitofrontal cortex correlated negatively with a self-rated assessment of caring, one of the components of a model of positive youth development. These findings provide evidence of the long-term impact of prenatal environment on a neural substrate of cognition and social behavior.