Scanning and Transmission Electron Microscopic Study of the Human Spermatozoa from Male Smokers and Nonsmokers

The harmful effect of cigarette smoking has been studied in every field of medicine. However, the toxicity of smoking on human spermatozoa at the ulrastructural level has not yet been fully investigated. The objective of this paper is to investigate the possible abnormalities of the sperm head, midpiece & tail using both SEM & TEM. Semen from 19 men (mean age 29.9±1.9 years) who smoked an average of (25.5±0.9) cigarettes per day and 15 men who never smoked (aged 30.5±2.1 years) were used in this study. Patients were investigated for male infertility at Assisted Reproductive Unite at Hamad Medical Hospital in The State of Qatar. Seminal volume, sperm concentration, motility and viability were measured. Assessment of sperm morphology by SEM and the ultrastructure variations of the head and the tail using TEM were performed. In smokers, significant reduction in seminal volume (2.7±0.1 vs. 3.1±0.1, p<0.05), sperm concentration (45.3±3.6 vs. 50.9±0.9, p<0.05), percentage of motile spermatozoa (39.6±1.6 vs.51.0±0.4, p<0.05) were detected. Significant increase in non motile viable spermatozoa (38.9±1.0 vs. 31.0±0.2, p<0.05) was also noted. SEM indicated a significant increase in the number of head (43.9.3±11.6 vs.26.1±0.1, p<0.05), midpiece (3.2±1.6 vs.1.2±0.3, p<0.05), and tail abnormalities (28.3±2.6 vs. 15.1±0.9, p<0.05). Changes in the ultrastructure of the head, midpiece and arrangement of axonemal microtubules were higher in smokers compared to nonsmokers. This indicated that excessive smoking may have a major role in altering the seminal parameters and sperm morphology. This research is supported by Qatar University.