Smoking increases dna damage in male infertile patients in Egypt

ABSTRACT

Environmental factors, have been shown to have a deleterious effect on spermatogenesis. Cigarette smoking is a major source of environmental pollution. Many studies have suggested that cigarette smoking is associated with altered semen quality, but conclusions about the extent of the deleterious effects vary widely. Sperm nuclear chromatin abnormalities /DNA damage could occur at the time of, or be the result of, DNA packing at spermatogenesis. Environmental stress, gene mutations, and chromosomal abnormalities can disturb the highly refined biochemical events that occur during spermatogenesis. This can ultimately lead to an abnormal chromatin structure that is incompatible with fertility. However, the exact mechanism by which chromatin abnormalities/DNA damage arise in human spermatozoa are not precisely understood. We have conducted a study on 50 infertile males, of whom 25 are smokers, to assess the degree of sperm DNA damage using the COMET assay and correlate our findings with other semen parameters. Conclusion: In the present study, the percentage of severe DNA fragmentation was significantly higher in smoker infertile group compared to no smokers and control groups