A Closer Look on Daughter's Fertility

A brand new research study has found and identified a chemical pathway through which a mother's smoking before and once pregnancy might reduce her daughter's fertility by around two thirds. As all of us know, cigarette smoking while pregnant is really a definite no-no, and is shown in retrospective studies to impact the fertility of the woman's offspring. However this could be the very first study that attempted explanation from the biology behind this effect, based on the Canadian scientists behind the research. The research was performed using a team coming from the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto that studied and investigated upon the impact of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH ), a byproduct of smoking, on mouse fertility.

The study included injections of a coffee dose combination of PAH to three groups of female mice. One group received PAH before conception and again once they were providing milk for their pups, while one group received PAH only before conception, and also the third group received PAH only during lactation. A fourth control group Didn‘t receive PAH but were mated simultaneously as others. The entire level of PAH assigned to each mouse during the three-week injection cycle was equivalent to 25 packs of cigarettes, consistent with researchers. The exposed mice Didn‘t have fewer pups with their own litters, but once the researchers investigated on the amount of eggs with their female offspring, they found about 70 percent fewer follicles available to supply eggs.

Based on the lead researcher Dr. Andrea Jurisicova, the mother (mice during this case ), exposed to PAHs—environmental pollutants found in cigarette smoke, car exhaust, smoke produced by fossil fuel combustion, along with in smoked food—before pregnancy and / or during breastfeeding, although not while pregnant, can cause a reduction in the amount of eggs inside the ovaries of the female offspring by two-thirds. This limits the window during which the daughter can reproduce.

The new data provides biological support for epidemiological results, such like the previously observed reduction in fertility among daughters of smoking women. Consistent with Dr. Norman Edelman from the American Lung Association, “if we do our job right and these results get good press thus this data could remind women of what they‘re doing on their unborn fetuses. ” Dr. Amos Grunebaum of New York Weill Cornell Medical Center also added that this really is a fascinating study, but doesn‘t add much, since other studies have also shown similar outcomes. The key point here is women should quit smoking before they even think about getting pregnant.

Although the findings don‘t define the period of time between quitting smoking and healthier fertility in offspring, Jurisicova noted that previous studies have shown that women who smoke have better results with “in vitro” fertilization twelve months after they quit smoking. The mice inside the current study conceived up to 2 weeks after their final PAH injection, and that is approximately equivalent to three menstrual cycles in women. More research remains needed for that, but mothers should know the risks that smoking may bring on their future offspring even after knowing this specific research study.