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A new animal study reveals mothers who smoke during pregnancy may impact the fertility of their sons.
The scientists, led by Eileen McLaughlin of the University of Newcastle in Australia, placed 27 female mice in a machine where they inhaled smoke, the equivalent of 24 cigarettes a day in humans. Another 27 mice were not exposed to smoke. After six weeks, the mice were placed with males and produced litters. Exposure to the smoke continued until the pups were weaned.
The 108 male mice offspring of both groups were examined regularly.
“Male pups of ‘smoking’ mothers have fewer sperm, which swim poorly, are abnormally shaped and fail to bind to eggs during in vitro fertilisation studies,” McLaughlin said in a press release. “This is the first time we have been able to prove conclusively that male baby exposure to cigarette toxins in pregnancy and early life will damage later life fertility.”
The study appears in the journal Human Reproduction.
Agencies/Canadajournal
