Abstract
Cigarette smoking can harm fertility, but the existing research has targeted primarily on ovarian follicles, embryos or sex hormone. In this study, we tested cigarette smoke extract on ovulation, oocyte morphology and ovarian gene expression associated with inhibition of oxidative stress using C57BL/6 mice. Mice in the experimental group were administered a cigarette smoke extract (CSE) solution (2 mg/ml) orally daily, while the blank control group was given dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). A positive control group (menadione) was used that received an intraperitoneal injection of 15 mg/kg menadione in oil solution daily. We found that the CSE group manifested a reduced diameter of zona pellucida-free oocyte (ZP-free OD) and a morphologically misshapen first polar body (PB). Our results suggest that CSE exposure is associated with a shrink size and poor quality of oocytes. Quitting smoking is a wise choice to ensure good fertility.
Highlights
The prevalence of smoking among women of reproductive age has increased worldwide over the last several years [1,2]
Ovulation quantity and oocyte morphology The number of oocytes ovulated from the cigarette smoke extract (CSE) group showed an increase compared with the control group (CSE 21.8663.70, control 12.0062.05, P = 0.061, Analysis of variance (ANOVA), LSD) (Table 2) without statistical significance
The ZP thickness non-significantly reduced in the CSE group (CSE 7.4360.05, control 7.5960.07, P = 0.082, LSD), while it was significantly decreased in the menadione group compared with the control group (Table 2, Dataset S2)
Summary
The prevalence of smoking among women of reproductive age has increased worldwide over the last several years [1,2]. It has been reported that cigarette smoking harms the reproductive system in many aspects [5,6]. The adverse effects of cigarette smoking on fertility and their relation to premature ovarian failure have been demonstrated [14]. Smoking is correlated to higher infertility risk [5,15], lower fecundity rate [16,17], lower in-vitro fertilization (IVF) success rates [18,19,20] and increased rate of spontaneous abortion [21,22,23,24]
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