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Impact of smoking on heavy metal contamination and DNA fragmentation

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Abstract

Tobacco is smoked by different techniques through cigarette and shisha smoking. The prevalence of tobacco is considered one of the major threats to public health. This study aims to assess the effect of cigarette, shisha, and mixed (cigarette/shisha) smoking on heavy metal contamination in hair samples, hair loss, and DNA fragmentation, to correlate age, incidence of hair loss, and smoking duration with the amount of accumulated metals and the DNA fragmentation, and to correlate the level of heavy metal contamination with DNA fragmentation. This study was implemented in Saudi Arabia among sixty males divided into four groups (15/group): control and cigarette, shisha, and mixed smokers. Heavy metal contamination in hair samples and urinary DNA levels were assayed. All metal and urinary DNA levels were significantly elevated in cigarette, shisha, and mixed smokers compared to non-smokers. Hair loss was also higher among smokers especially among participants with high DNA concentrations. There were positive significant correlations of age and incidence of hair loss with urinary DNA concentration. There were positive significant correlations between urinary DNA concentration and all heavy metal levels. Cigarette, shisha, and mixed smoking trigger metal contamination, DNA fragmentation, and hair loss. Moreover, hair loss was observed to be associated with Sb, Cd, and Ni as well as urinary DNA level, while age was associated only with lead and urinary DNA levels. The duration of smoking had a major impact on Pb and Sb levels. Finally, contamination with all six metals was significantly associated with DNA fragmentation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, Qassim University, Qassim, Saudi Arabia

    Amira S. Ahmed, Maha A. Aldubayan & Rehab M. Elgharabawy

  2. Hormones Department, Medical Research Division, National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt

    Amira S. Ahmed

  3. Department of Forensic Sciences, College of Criminal Justice, Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Hatem A. Ahmed

  4. Department of Medical Biotechnology, College of Biotechnology, Misr University for Science and Technology, 6th of October City, Giza, Egypt

    Ahmed M. Refaat

  5. College of Pharmacy, Qassim University, Qassim, Saudi Arabia

    Albatool S. Alsalloumi & Rawan A. Almasuood

  6. Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

    Rehab M. Elgharabawy

Authors
  1. Amira S. Ahmed
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  2. Maha A. Aldubayan
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  3. Hatem A. Ahmed
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  4. Ahmed M. Refaat
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  5. Albatool S. Alsalloumi
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  6. Rawan A. Almasuood
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  7. Rehab M. Elgharabawy
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Contributions

Amira S. Ahmed and Rehab M. Elgharabawy conceived and designed the research, interpreted, analyzed, and discussed the obtained data. Hatem A. Ahmed conducted the determination of heavy metals in hair samples. Ahmed M. Refaat conducted the isolation and estimation of urinary DNA. Amira S. Ahmed, Albatool S. Alsalloumi, and Rawan A. Almasuood collected the hair and urine samples. Amira S. Ahmed, Rehab M. Elgharabawy, Maha A. Aldubayan, Albatool S. Alsalloumi, and Rawan A. Almasuood wrote the manuscript, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. Finally, all authors read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amira S. Ahmed.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The protocol of this study was approved by the ethical committee of the college of pharmacy, Qassim University, KSA.

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Informed consent was collected from all participants in this study.

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Not applicable.

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Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Ahmed, A.S., Aldubayan, M.A., Ahmed, H.A. et al. Impact of smoking on heavy metal contamination and DNA fragmentation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 13931–13941 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11633-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11633-y

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