Cigarette smoking, one of the main causes of preventable morbidity and mortality, has a multitude of well-known side effects. The relationship between cigarette smoking and infertility has been studied for decades.<br />Previous studies have found that smoking is associated with decreased male fertility via altering the quality of semen. Cigarette smoking seems to have a negative impact on men’s reproductive health. Chemical compounds found in cigarette smoke, such as cadmium, lead, arsenic, carbon monoxide, nicotine, and cotinine (a nicotine byproduct), can directly enter the bloodstream and accumulated in seminal fluid, these compounds caused oxidative stress and have a significant impacted on seminal characteristics, including the damage of sperm DNA.<br /> Smoking has been shown to increase genetic and epigenetic aberrations in spermatozoa, including oxidative DNA damage, chromatin packing abnormalities, chromosomal alterations, mutations, polymorphisms, epigenetic alterations such as DNA methylation and dysregulation of mRNA expression, and all of that can influence sperm functions and men’s fertility [1].<br /> Conclusion<br />Tobacco smoking leads to reduced semen quality. Furthermore, reproductive hormone system disorders, dysfunction of spermatogenesis and sperm maturation process.<br />Reference<br />1. Omolaoye TS, El Shahawy O, Skosana BT, Boillat T, Loney T, du Plessis SS. The mutagenic effect of tobacco smoke on male fertility. Environ Sci pollut Res (2022) 29:62055–66. doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-16331-x<br />م.م. رنين هشام شعلان <br />جامعة المستقبل الجامعة الأولى في العراق<br />