[ Ссылка ] UCSF scientists have gained insight into how second-hand tobacco smoke damages the earliest stages of human embryonic development. They made their discovery by studying the impact of smoke on human embryonic stem cells in the culture dish. They saw that both nicotine and non-nicotine components of tobacco smoke prevent the cells from specializing into a broad range of cell types, including those of the blood, heart, musculoskeletal systems and brain. They also established that at least some of the impact was mediated through several molecular pathways known to play a role in the differentiation process.
