Smoking cigarettes is associated with increased sperm disomy in teenage men.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether moderate cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption in teenage men is associated with increases in disomic sperm and detectable changes in semen quality.


METHODS
Cohort study.


METHODS
Military recruiting station, Teplice, Czech Republic.


METHODS
Ten current smokers (20 cigarettes per day for at least 2 years, exposure confirmed by urine cotinine) who also consumed alcohol and 15 nonsmokers. All patients were exactly 18 years old, healthy, and of unproven fertility.


METHODS
Sperm aneuploidy by multicolor fluorescence in situ hybridization for chromosomes 8, X, and Y; conventional semen analyses; computer-aided sperm analysis for motility; and sperm chromatin structure analysis.


RESULTS
Smokers showed elevated frequencies of sperm aneuploidy (Y disomy, P <0.001; aggregate of X, Y, and 8 disomies, P <0.01); reduced linearity of sperm motion (P <0.05); and more "round-headed" sperm (P <0.01). Smokers' semen contained fewer sperm (P <0.001) and fewer motile sperm (P <0.02), which was attributable, in part, to shorter abstinence intervals among smokers (P <0.02).


CONCLUSIONS
Cigarette smoking among teenagers was associated with increases in disomic sperm and a diminution in specific aspects of semen quality. Such defects may affect male fertility and may increase future chances of fathering offspring with aneuploidy syndromes.
Rubes
J
J
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
Lowe
X
X
Moore
D
D
Perreault
S
S
Slott
V
V
Evenson
D
D
Selevan
S G
SG
Wyrobek
A J
AJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects; D000782:Aneuploidy; D002110:Caffeine / Q000009:adverse effects; D002843:Chromatin / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013076:Sperm Count; D013081:Sperm Motility; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000473:pathology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014743:Videotape Recording
D002843:Chromatin; D002110:Caffeine