Abstract: Neuroplasticity is an important feature of respiratory control and critical for life, as this allows for adjustments to breathing to fit our metabolic needs across development, disease, injury, and aging. Nicotine is a highly addictive recreational drug that modulates neuronal excitability and plasticity, and the impact of in utero nicotine exposure on the development and function of central networks that control breathing have been extensively studied. Conversely, despite the widespread use of tobacco and nicotine products, we know little about how chronic nicotine exposure impacts breathing control in adulthood. This seminar will highlight some of the ways the Wollman lab studies nicotine-mediated plasticity of respiratory control by giving an overview of past and current research projects including 1) work in neonatal rats showing that in utero nicotine exposure modulates fast-synaptic transmission, indicating a potential mechanism for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and 2) Dr. Wollman’s current NIH funded research, which is the first to show the detrimental effects of acute nicotine withdrawal on respiratory chemoreflex control in adult rats.