Smoking Could Affect Sperm

Two newest researches give evidences that smoking may effect sperm-both in smoking men who may become fathers, and also in sons born to women who smoked while being pregnant.
Also according to the research both men and women who want to conceive should stop smoking.
“The results of this study show that smoking has a negative biological effect on spermatozoa DNA integrity,” stated the author of one study, Dr. Mohamed E. Hammadeh, head of the reproductive laboratory in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of the Saarland in Saar, Germany.

Research conducted by the Hammadeh and his colleagues showed that those men who are heavy smokers may have fertility problems being the result of a drop in levels of a protein that is crucial to sperm development, as well as damage to sperm's DNA.
The other research shows that women who smoke at the early stages of their pregnancy may eventually compromise their sons' reproductive health.

In the firs research conducted by the Hammadeh's team, the scientists compared sperm from 53 heavy smokers, who regularly smoke 20 cigarettes per day, against that of 63 nonsmokers.
After three to four days of sexual abstinence, a single semen sample was taken from all study participants, in order to measure the levels of two forms of a specific type of protein contained in sperm, called protamines.

As researches stated protamines, are the important players in sperm development that help to stimulate the process by which chromosomes are formed and packaged during cell division.
Dr. Hammadeh and his team found that in the smoking group, one form of protamine appeared at levels that were 14% below concentrations detected in the sperm of those men who do not smoke. These findings were enough to constitute a form of "protamine deficiency" and in turn increase risks fro infertility among the smokers.
Also was found that smoking-linked "oxidative stress" is related to the increase in harm to sperm DNA.
The second study was conducted by Dr. Claus Yding Andersen, a professor of human reproductive physiology at the University Hospital of Copenhagen in Denmark. It particularly was aimed on detection of the impact of maternal smoking during the first trimester of pregnancy upon the development of the make fetus.

After classifying the future mothers according to smoking habits, the scientist found that the number of "germ cells" that are developing into sperm and eggs in females were 55% lower in testes of embryos obtained from women who smoked.

Based on these data early in fetal growth, Anderson and his colleagues stated that the evident affect of smoking on cellular production could continue in male offspring carried to term. And thus it could mean a higher risk of deteriorated fertility in sons.

So, these findings should help both men and women to kick the habit for the sake of their future children.