Cadmium accumulation in follicular fluid of women in in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer is higher in smokers.

Objective: To assess cadmium, a heavy metal in cigarette tobacco, in follicular fluid (FF) of women in IVF-ET, who smoke.

Design: Controlled clinical study.

Setting: Infertile patients in a hospital IVF-ET program.

Patients: Fifty-one women selected in groups according to smoking habits: nonsmokers (n = 10), passive smokers (n = 17), light smokers (< 15 cigarettes per day, n = 19), and heavy smokers (> or = 15 cigarettes per day, n = 5).

Interventions: Ovarian hyperstimulation with GnRH agonist.

Results: The mean +/- SEM level of FF cadmium was higher in smokers (7.93 +/- 0.16 ng/mL) than in nonsmokers (6.73 +/- 0.31 ng/mL), and with a dose-effect of smoking. The individual levels in passive, light, and heavy smoking women also were higher than in nonsmoking women.

Conclusions: Despite lack of vascularization of the follicle, cadmium accumulation was detectable in FF. Cadmium also could accumulate in oocytes of smokers; it does so, in a dose-dependent manner, in oocytes of cadmium-treated rats. Access to cadmium and other contaminants of cigarette smoke in FF may compromise the quality of oocytes, becoming a risk factor.