ArticlePsychological medicine2020
Interaction of maternal choline levels and prenatal Marijuana's effects on the offspring.
Article in Psychological medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Vaping and Smoking in Pregnancy-A Meta-Analysis of Neurobehavioural Development in Prenatally Exposed Offspring.Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) · 2025Pooled it
- Choline During Pregnancy and Child Neurodevelopment: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials and Observational Studies.Nutrients · 2025Pooled it
- Systematic review: the impact of maternal pre-and postnatal cannabis use on the behavioral and emotional regulation in early childhood.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Association between Maternal Choline, Fetal Brain Development, and Child Neurocognition: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Human Studies.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2022Pooled it
- Birth Outcomes of Neonates Exposed to Marijuana in Utero: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.JAMA network open · 2022Pooled it
- Improved red blood cell storage quality of blood from donors carrying the hypermorphic PIMT I120 variant.HemaSphere · 2026Article
- Review
- Developmental Windows for Effects of Choline and Folate on Excitatory and Inhibitory Neurotransmission During Human Gestation.Developmental psychobiology · 2024Article
- Choline - a scoping review for Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2023.Food & nutrition research · 2023Article
- Prenatal choline, cannabis, and infection, and their association with offspring development of attention and social problems through 4 years of age.Psychological medicine · 2022Article
- Black American Maternal Prenatal Choline, Offspring Gestational Age at Birth, and Developmental Predisposition to Mental Illness.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2021Article
- Global metabolomic profiling reveals hepatic biosignatures that reflect the unique metabolic needs of late-term mother and fetus.Metabolomics : Official journal of the Metabolomic Society · 2021Article
- Associations of prenatal tobacco and insecticide co-exposures with neurobehavioral responses among children born to pregnant women exposed to cannabis.Neurotoxicology and teratologyArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThis study investigated whether higher maternal choline levels mitigate effects of marijuana on fetal brain development. Choline transported into the amniotic fluid from the mother activates α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptors on fetal cerebro-cortical inhibitory neurons, whose development is impeded by cannabis blockade of their cannabinoid-1(CB1) receptors.
methodsMarijuana use was assessed during pregnancy from women who later brought their newborns for study. Mothers were informed about choline and other nutrients, but not specifically for marijuana use. Maternal serum choline was measured at 16 weeks gestation.
resultsMarijuana use for the first 10 weeks gestation or more by 15% of mothers decreased newborns' inhibition of evoked potentials to repeated sounds (d' = 0.55, p < 0.05). This effect was ameliorated if women had higher gestational choline (rs = -0.50, p = 0.011). At 3 months of age, children whose mothers continued marijuana use through their 10th gestational week or more had poorer self-regulation (d' = -0.79, p < 0.05). This effect was also ameliorated if mothers had higher gestational choline (rs = 0.54, p = 0.013). Maternal choline levels correlated with the children's improved duration of attention, cuddliness, and bonding with parents.
conclusionsPrenatal marijuana use adversely affects fetal brain development and subsequent behavioral self-regulation, a precursor to later, more serious problems in childhood. Stopping marijuana use before 10 weeks gestational age prevented these effects. Many mothers refuse to cease use because of familiarity with marijuana and belief in its safety. Higher maternal choline mitigates some of marijuana's adverse effects on the fetus.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.