IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.24 (2) 2011 The Impact of Cigarette Smoking on Levels of Sex Hormones and Zinc in Blood of Smokers L. H.A.Al-Azzawy De partment of Health Community, College of Health and Medical Technology, Foundation of Technical Education. Received in :6, June, 2010 Accepte d in : 14, December , 2010 Abstract Smokin g has multiple effects on sex hormone , some of which are associated with imp ortant clinical imp lication .The p resent study was undertaken to invest igate the biochemical chan ges of sex hormones associated with long st anding cigarett e smoking in 40 heavy smokers comp aring with non- smoker and to correlate it with BM I for each .The sex hormones l evels were determined by RIA t echnique . At omic absorp tion technique was used to measure the zinc levels. The serum testost erone and estrogen levels of non – smoker group were 17.775ng\ml and 38.65ng\ml at p < 0.05, resp ectively .While the serum testosterone and estrogen levels of smoker group were 17.615ng\ml and 39.65n g\ml at p <0.05, resp ectively .The zinc levels of smokers and non- smokers group were 92 µg/dl and 105.5 µg/dl at p < 0.05, resp ectively. The BM I of smokers and non- smokers were 20.273 and 23.66 at p <0.01, resp ectively, which were high ly significant. Key words: Sex hor mones, z inc, smoking ,BM I . Introduction The health consequences of cigarette smoking and the use of the other tobacco p roducts are well known . T hey are an important cause of the increase of mortality and morbidity in develop ed countries and the p revalence is increased in developing world as well[ 1] .The risk of cancer is much greater in smokers than in non- smokers which p articularly lung cancer [2] .Tobacco smoke contains numerous comp ounds , the imp ortant substance of material is being the carcinogen ( such as p oly cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons ) , irritant subst ances , nicotine , carbon monoxide and other gases[3].Smoking has an effect on the various metabolic and biological p rocesses in the body including secretion of hormones [4] .Cigarette smoking has major effects on the reproductive p otential of humans , it has anti-estrogenic effect in women [5,6,7] .In males, the effect of smoking is on androgen levels ; given the recent interest in the association between androgen levels and metabolic sy ndrome and coronary heart disease [8]. IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.24 (2) 2011 Cigarette smoking may be associated with sub-fertility in males and may result in decreased sp erm concentration, low sp erm motility and reduce percentage of morp hologically normal sp erm resp ectively [9,10,11]. Nicotine –addicts usually have the risk of depletion / deficiency in imp ortant nutrients and minerals including zinc. The zinc deficiency leads to decrease number of sp erm and imp otence in males .[13], Z inc also inhibits t he aromatase enzy me that converts testost erone in to excess estrogen ; the high estrogen activity results in increased risk of heart disease, weight gain and obesity in male [14]. The low levels of zinc lead to lower sp erm count, lower sex drive and can aid in produceing p rost ate cancer [15]. The aim of this st udy is to evaluate the effects of smoking on the testost erone and estrogen levels in men and to detect the association of smoking with zinc and BM I. Materials and Methods Blood samples were obtained from 80 p articip ants, 40 smokers and 4o non- smokers. They were residences in Baghdad city . The Venous blood (about 10 ml) was drawn from the subjects in the morning without regard to fasting or non fasting st ate. All blood samples were collected in the sp ecial p recautions required for Tracing metal analysis , est rogen and testost erone measurements. Testost erone and estrogen levels were measured in blood serum by using (RIA) technique which was described by [16] .Zinc and copp er levels were measured in serum by using atomic absorp tion sp ectrop hotometer / flame emission technique which was described by [ 17] .Body mass index was measured depending on the method described by [18]. Statist ical analysis : T-test was used to t est the difference between two means. Re sults The study of p op ulation included 80 men, with a mean age of 22±2 y ears. Fort y p eople were heavy smokers and forty p eople were non- smokers. Baseline data of the st udy group s are shown in table (1). No significant differences were noticed in testost erone levels among smokers and non-smoker (17.615ng\ml, 17.775ng\ml at p >0.05) resp ectively and no st atist ical significant differences were noted in estrogen levels of both smokers and non- smokers (39.45ng\ml, 38.65ng\ml at p >0.05).Highly differences were found in BM I between smokers and non-smokers (20.273, 23.66 at p <0.01) . T hese results wear shown in table (2). Table (3). Demonstrates that no significant differences among the mean conc. of testost erone and the mean of BM I of smokers (17.615ng\ml, 20.273 at p >0.05) resp ectively although there IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.24 (2) 2011 were highly significant differences among the mean conc. of testost erone and the mean of BM I of non- smokers (17.775ng\ml, 23.66 at p <0.01) resp ectively. Table (4) showed that no st atist ical significant differences were noted among the mean conc. of testost erone and the mean conc. of zinc in smokers (17.615ng\ml, 92µg\dl at p >0.05) resp ectively. The significant differences were noted between the mean conc. of testost erone and the mean conc. of zinc of non- smokers (17.775ng\ml, 105.5µg\dl at p <0.05) resp ectively. Discussion Cigarette smoking is an imp ortant modifier of hormones and a detailed smoking history is essential when assessing p atients with endocrine disorders [19] . The direct toxic effect of environmental toxins p resent in cigarette smoking which contains a lot of known toxins that may have detrimental effects on fertility in both sexes [20] .Some of chemicals in cigarette’s smoke generate a large number of free radicals , which may be related to etiology of cancer and various diseases [21,22] . The p resent st udy is designed to evaluate the effect of cigarette smoking on sex hormone levels, body mass and serum trace element concentrations in healthy Iraqi men. In our st udy , the data suggest that t obacco smoking has no significant effect on the biological active function of testost erone in smoker compared with non- smoker group which was similar to other p ublished st udies [22] who found no significant effect of cigarette smoking on the active fraction of testes in smoker but may influence the levels of total testost erone through the change in the levels of sex hormone binding globulin(SHBG) ,while , other researches have observed a p ositive significant correlation between testost erone level and tobacco smoking[20,23] . Table (2) Regarding BM I and smoking st atus, we found that mean concentration of BM I and smoking is controversial, since some authors found that smoking was p ositively in association with BM I and this is due to t he p oor behavioral habits among smoking [24]. Different from other p ublished st udies our results are similar to t he result of [25] found that smoking was p ositively in associated with p hy sical inactivity , which mediated the association between tobacco use and BM I. The present study (table 3, 4) is different from other p ublished st udies [13, 26] who found that a significant association between BM I, zinc and testost erone concentration of smoking st atus subject and agree with [27] Indeed, all the subject in this st udy are a y oung males and their habitual androgen intake as a muscular builder. Conclusion The present st udy has revealed a dep ressed antioxidant nutritional st atus (i.e. serum zinc) and changing in other p arameters like BM I, mean concentration of testost erone and estrogen in smoker status. There were no significant association between these parameters in smoking st atus , when the samp les intake the androgen as t he muscular builder. IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.24 (2) 2011 Re ferences 1. Kap oor,D. and Jones,T .H. (2000) ʺ Smoking and hormones in health and endocrine disorder ʺ European Journal of Endocrinology ,.125 ,issue4,491-499. 2. Terry,P. D. M iller, A.B.and Rohan,T. E. (2006) ̋ Ap ositive cohort study of cigarette smoking and the risk of endomaterial of cancer ʺ British Journal of cancer , 86 :1430- 1435. 3. Smoking and Health Now.(1971) Report of the Roy al College of Phy sicians .London: Pitman Medical and Scientific Co . Ltd. 4. Trummer, H.; Habermann,H. Hass, J.and Pummer, K. (2002) ʺ The imp act of cigarette smoking on humen semen p arameters and hormones ʺ Human reproduction , 17 :1554-1559. 5. Tako,L. B. and Christ iansen, C. (2004) ʺ Anup date on the antiestrogenic effect of smoking : a literature rexiew with imp lications for researchs and p ractitioners ʺ Menopause ,11 :104-109. 6. Baron,J. A. La Vecchia,C. and Levi, F. (1990) ʺ The antiest rogenic effect of cigarette smoking in women ʺ American Journal of obstertries and gynecology, 126:502-514. 7. Sp angler ,J. G. (1999) ʺ Smoking and hormone –related disorder ̋ Primary Care ,.26: 499-511. 8. Jones, T. H. Jones,R. D. and Channer,K. S.(2003) ʺ Testost erone and cardiovascular disorders ʺIn recent Research and Development in Endocrinology and Metabolism , 1:143-168. 9. Lewin, A.; Gonen ,O.; Orvieto, R. and Schenker,J. G. (1991) ʺ Effect of smoking on concentration ,motility & zona-free hamst er test on human sp erm ʺ Arch .Androl., 27 :51-54. 10. Sofikitis , N.; M iyagawa, I.; Dimitriadis, D.; Zavos, P.; Sikka, S. and Hellstrom ,W. (1995) ʺ Effect of smoking on testicular function, semen quality and sp erm fertilizing ʺ Capacity .J.Urol., 154 : 1030-1034. 11. Zinaman, M . J.; Brown , C. C.; Selevan,S. G. and Clegg, E. D. (2000) ʺ semen quality and human fertility : ap rosp ective st udy with health coup lesʺ J. Antrol., 21:145-153. 12. M eeker, J. D. Baller, L. G. and Hauser, R. (2007) ʺ Relationship s between serum hormone levels and semen quality among men from anifertility clinic ʺ American Journal of Andrology , 28 ,No. 3,1-17. 13. Oldereid , N. B.; Thomassen, Y. and Purvisk, K. ( 1994) ʺ Seminal p lasma lead , cadmium and zinc in relation to tobacco consump tion. ̋Int.J.Androl.,.17:24-28. 14. Brown, K. H.; Wuehier,S. E. and Peerson, J. M . (2001) ʺ The imp ortance of zinc in human nutrition and estimation of the gobal p revalence of zinc deficiency .ʺ Food Nutr. Bull ,.22:25- 113. 15. Netter, A.; Hartoma, R. and Nahoul, K. (1981) ” Effect of zinc administ ration on p lasma testost erone dihydrotestost erone, and sp erm count”. ArchAndrol 7:69-73. IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.24 (2) 2011 16. Sodergard ,R.; Backst rom, T.; Shanbhag,V. and Carstensen, H. (1982) ʺCalculation of free and bound fractions of testost erone and estradiol to human p lasma p roteins at body temp erature ̋.Journal of steroid Boichemistry ,.16:68-73 17. Keilchiro.Fuwa,Pulido,Robert,M ckay ,B.L.Vallee.(1964) “measurement of trace metals by atomic absorp tion sp ectrometry ʺ.Anal.Chem.,.36, No.13, p p 2407-2411 . 18. Romero -Corral , A.; Somers , V. K.; Sierra –Jhnson ,J.; T ho mas , R. J.; Collazo- Clavell, M . L.; Korinek, J.;Allison, T. G.; Bast sis, J. A.; Sert -Kuniy oshi, F. H. and Lopez-Jimenez, F. (2 008) "Accuracy of body mass index in diagnosing obesity in the adult general p op ulation". International Journal of Obesity,(June 2008).32(6): 959–956. doi:10.1038/ijo. 19. Vine, M .F.(1996) ʺ Smoking and male reproduction : a review ʺ Int .J. Androl ., 19 , 323-337. 20. Svartberg, J.; M idtby , M . and Bonaa, K. H. et al. (2003)." The association of age, lifesty le factors and chronic disease with testost erone in men": the Tromso Study . European Journal of Endocrinology ,149: 145–152. 21. 19.M arti, B.;Tuomilehto, J.; Korhonen, H. J.; Kartovaara, L. andVartiainen, E. et al.(1989) “ Smoking andleanness:evidence for change in finland " BM I , 90 :298- 1287. 22. English ,K. M .; Pugh, P.; Parry , H.; Scutt , N.; Channer ,K. and Jones, T.H. (2001) ʺEffect of cigarette smoking on levels of bioavailable testost erone in healthy menʺ. Clinical Science , 100:661-665. 23. Tamimi, R., M ucci, L. A., Spanos, E. et al. (2001)" Testost erone and oestradiol in relation to tobacco smoking, body mass index, energy consumption and nutrient intake among adult men". European Journal of Cancer Prevention, 10, 275–280. 24. M arc, W.; Urs, G.; M anfred, G.; Heinz-gerd, W.; Jobest , B. and Gerhard, A. W.(2007)"Controlled st udy on the combined effect of alcohol and tobacco smoking on testost erone in alcohol- dep endent men " Alcohol & Alcoholism. 42: (1) 19–23. 25. Ap ost oli, A.; Telisman, S. and Sager, P. R.(2007) " Reproductive and Develop mental Toxicity of M etals". Handbook on the Toxicology of Metals. Vol 12. Third edition. Edited by : Nordberg GF, Fowler BA, Nordberg M and Friberg LT. Amst erdam, Academic Press Elsevier; 213-249. 26. . Kulikauskas, V.; Blaust ein, D. and Ablin, R. J. (1985) ʺ Cigarettesmoking and its p ossible effects On sp erm.ʺ Fertil Steril ., 44:526-528. 27. Steven, S. N. (2000) ʺ M ale in fertility nutritional and environmental considerationsʺ Alter. Med. Rev. , 5(1): 28-38. IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FOR PURE & APPL. S CI. VOL.24 (2) 2011 Table (1) Testosterone and estrogen level ( ng / ml ) at both smokers and non – smokers S moki ng status Mean conc. of testosterone (n=40) Mean conc. of estrogen (n=40) Smokers 17.615 1.93 39.45 Non- smokers 17.775 38.65 Tabl e (2) Me an BMI of both smokers and non- smoke rs S moking status Mean of BMI (n= 40) Smokers 20.273 * Non- smokers 23.66 BM I= Body M ass Index. * HS = Highly sign ificant ( p <0.01). Table (3) Relationship among mean conc. . of testosterone( ng /ml ) & mean of BMI of both smoke r and non-smoke rs. S moking status Mean conc. Of testosterone (n=40) Mean of BMI (n=40 Smokers 17.615 20.273 ** Non- smokers 17.775 23.66 ** = Highly significant(p<0.01). Table (4) Relationship among mean conc. . of testosterone(ng /ml) & mean conc. . Of zinc (µg /dl) of both smoke r and non-smokers. S moking status Mean conc. Of testosterone (n=40) Mean conc. of Zn (n=40 Smokers 17.615 92 ** Non- smokers 17.775 105.5 **=Highly significant (p <0.01) 2011) 1( 24مجلة ابن الهیثم للعلوم الصرفة والتطبیقیة المجلد مستوى الهرمونات الجنسیة والزنك في دم المدخنین فيتأثیر دخان السكائر حسین علي العزاوي لمى هیئة التعلیم التقني ، كلیة التقنیات الصحیة والطبیة، قسم صحة المجتمع 2010 ،رانحزی ،6: استلم البحث في 2010، كانون االول ،14: قبل البحث في الخالصة ة الهرمونات افراز مستوى في كبیر بشكل یؤثر السكائر دخان ان مهم بشكل مؤثرة تكون بدورها التي االنسان في الجنسی ت لتحدید الدراسة هذه اجریت لقد . دخنینمال االشخاص اجسام في السریریة المضامینفي مستوى في الكیموحیویة التغیرا ة الهرمونات ة هذه شملت وقد .المدخنین دم في الجنسی ا 40 الدراس فقط الذكور من) مدخن غیر "شخصا 40و مدخنا "شخص االمتصاص تقنیة عمالباست المدخنین وغیر المدخنین دم مصل في الزنك مستوى قیس ,سنة 22 أعمارهم معدل كان و ( مایكروغرام 105.5 و لیتر دیسي| مایكروغرام92) بین المدخنین وغیر المدخنین دم مصل في الزنك مستوى تراوح ,الذري كان و مضبوط بشكل والطول الوزن قیاس بعد خاصة معادلة عمالباست الجسم كتلة مقیاس حسب , التوالي على ( لیتر دیسي| . المدخنین لغیر 23.66 و للمدخنین 20.273 الجسم كتلة مقیاس تقنیة عمالفي مصل دم المدخنین وغیر المدخنین باست) التیستوستیرون واالندروجین ( مستوى الهرمونات الجنسیة قیس 38.56ملیلیتر و | نانوغرام 17.775(كان مستوى التیستوستیرون والندروجین في مصل دم غیر المدخنین هو ) . RIA(ال .17(التیستوستیرون واالندروجین في مصل دم االشخاص المدخنین حوالي على التوالي وكانت نسبة ) ملیلیتر |نانوغرام 615 .على التوالي )ملیلیتر |نانوغرام 39.65ملیلیتر و |نانوغرام .مقیاس كتلة الجسم ،مدخنین ، زنك ،الهرمونات الجنسیة : الكلمات المفتاحیة