BACKGROUND: The potential effects of cigarette smoke exposure on reproductive outcomes
are a major scientific and public health concern. Maternal hyperglycemia during early pregnancy
is associated with increased risk of abnormalities in the offspring which are 2-5-fold higher than
that of the normal population. THE AIM OF THE STUDY: Is to evaluate the effect of smoking in
pre-pregnancy period of diabetic mothers on fetal development. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
Sixty diabetic female rats were randomly distributed in three experimental groups, according to
presence or absence of cigarette smoke exposure: group I; twenty diabetic rats exposed to
filtered air that serve as negative control group(D), group II; twenty diabetic rats exposed to
cigarette smoke before and during pregnancy (DS) and serves as positive control and group III;
twenty diabetic rats exposed only to cigarette smoke in pre-pregnancy period (DSPP). Diabetes
was induced by streptozotocin and exposure to cigarette smoke for six weeks. At day 21 of
pregnancy, rats were killed for maternal biochemical determination and reproductive outcomes,
and fetal anomaly analyses. Data were analyzed by tests according to symmetrical or
asymmetrical distribution (data considered significant if p