Pregnant smokers bear infertile men—study 
by Silky Chandvani - September 11, 2010  

Mothers-to-be who indulge in smoking sow the seeds of infertility in their sons even before they are born, a new study warns.

The research, which supports past studies with similar results, found that smoking dramatically reduces the immature reproductive cell count in male embryos.

Since these cells are programmed to later develop into eggs or sperm, the reduction has the potential to hamper the child's future fertility.

Interestingly, according to the latest Tobacco Atlas, India ranks third in the top 20 female smoking populations across the globe.

Men who are heavy smokers have a lower concentration of proteins in the testes that are essential for producing sperm, the study revealed.

Study details and findings

In a bid to access the link between smoking and infertility, scientists examined 24 testes, involving 37- to 68-day-old embryos, obtained from legally terminated pregnancies.
It was found that the number of reproductive cells reduced by 55 percent and that of somatic cells reduced by 37 percent, in fetuses of women who had been smoking in pregnancy.

"We were very surprised that smoking so early in pregnancy has such profound effect on the number of germ cells in the gonads," New Scientist quoted co-author Claus Andersen from the University Hospital of Copenhagen, Denmark, as saying.

Smoking deleterious for men too: study

In a separate study, Dr. Mohamed E. Hammadeh, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of the Saarland in Germany, compared sperm samples from 53 men who smoked more than 20 cigarettes per day with sperm from 63 non-smokers.

Hammadeh and his colleagues examined the concentrations of two proteins called protamines P1 and P2, which are crucial to the formation of chromosomes during cell division.

“Changes in the concentrations of these protamines can have negative effects on male fertility,” opined researchers.

They found that heavy smokers had 14 percent lower concentration of P2, and a higher ratio of P1 to P2 overall.

"The results of the present study suggest a negative biological effect of smoking on spermatozoa DNA integrity," said lead author of the study, Dr. Mohamed E. Hammadeh.

Both the studies were published Sept. 8 in the journal 'Human Reproduction'. 

(themedguru)