ABSTRACT
18.g.1. Asmussen, I., Fetal cardiovascular system as influenced by maternal smoking, Clin. Cardiol., 2, 246—256, 1979. Placentas from women who smoked had a greater distance between maternal and fetal vessels and a broad basement membrane between them compared to those from nonsmokers. Smokers’ placentas were also more fibrous, more compact, had increased collagen content, and decreased vascularization. Smaller and more poorly vascularized placentas cannot be explained by reduction in oxygen tension in blood since these characteristics are not seen in placentas from women living at high altitudes. A dose related increase in size of a basement membrane was also observed in the umbilical artery.
