Abstract
There is a global increase in the popularity of water-pipe tobacco smoking including in Europe and North America. Nevertheless, little is known about the male reproductive effects of water-pipe smoke (WPS), especially after long-term exposure. Here, we assessed effects of WPS exposure (30 min/day) in male mice for 6 months. Control mice were exposed to air-only for the same period of time. Twenty-four hours after the last exposure, testicular histopathology, and markers of inflammation and oxidative stress, and the tyrosine–protein kinase vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGFR1) were assessed in testicular homogenates. Moreover, plasma testosterone, estradiol, and luteinizing hormone (LH) concentrations were also measured. Chronic WPS exposure induced a significant decrease of testosterone and estradiol, and a slight but significant increase of LH. Glutathione reductase, catalase, and ascorbic acid were significantly decreased following WPS exposure. Plasma concentration of leptin was significantly decreased by WPS exposure, whereas that of tumor necrosis factor α and interleukin 6 was significantly increased. Histopathological analysis of the testes revealed the presence of a marked reduction in the diameter of the seminiferous tubules with reduced spermatogenesis. Transmission electron microscopy examination showed irregular thickening and wrinkling of the basement membranes with abnormal shapes and structures of the spermatozoa. VEGFR1 was overexpressed in the testis of the mice exposed to WPS and was not detected in the control. The urine concentration of cotinine, the predominant metabolite of nicotine, was significantly increased in the WPS-exposed group compared with the control group. We conclude that chronic exposure to WPS induces damaging effects to the reproductive system in male mice. If this can be confirmed in humans, it would be an additional concern to an already serious public health problem, especially with the increased use of WPS use all over the world, especially in young adults.
Highlights
Water-pipe smoking (WPS; called hookah, shisha, Hubble bubble, and narghila) is a form of smoking which uses tobacco sweetened with either fruit or molasses sugar, which makes the smoke more aromatic than cigarette smoke
The aim of the present study was to assess the chronic (6 months) impact of water-pipe smoke (WPS) on the male reproductive system by analysing a comprehensive set of parameters including testicular immunohistochemistry and histopathology and, inflammation and oxidative stress, and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGFR1), a tyrosine– protein kinase known to be increased in cases of impaired spermatogenesis
A previous study showed that VEGF and its receptors VEGFR1 and VEGFR2 were expressed in the Leydig cells of the testes beside their usual expression in endothelial cells, and VEGFR1 in particular was shown to be expressed in certain spermatogenic cells (15)
Summary
Water-pipe smoking (WPS; called hookah, shisha, Hubble bubble, and narghila) is a form of smoking which uses tobacco sweetened with either fruit or molasses sugar, which makes the smoke more aromatic than cigarette smoke. The tobacco in WPS is exposed to high heat from burning charcoal, and the smoke produced is equal or even more toxic than cigarette smoke (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). A typical WPS session lasts 30 min or up to several hours, and can expose the smoker to 100–200 times the volume of smoke of a single cigarette (Chaouachi, 2009, 2011). Even though the respiratory and extra-respiratory pathophysiological effects of cigarette smoking (CS) are well-studied, much less has been reported on WPS, and there is a general and erroneous perception among users that WPS is relatively free from the adverse effects of CS (Knishkowy and Amitai, 2005; Maziak, 2015)
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