Environmental PAH Exposure and Male Idiopathic Infertility: a Review on Early Life Exposures and Adult Diagnosis

Overview

Journal Rev Environ Health

Specialty Environmental Health

Date 2016 Dec 10

PMID 27935856

Citations 8

Authors

Erin P Madeen

David E Williams

Affiliations

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Abstract

The male reproductive system is acutely and uniquely sensitive to a variety of toxicities, including those induced by environmental pollutants throughout the lifespan. Early life hormonal and morphological development results in several especially sensitive critical windows of toxicity risk associated with lifelong decreased reproductive health and fitness. Male factor infertility can account for over 40% of infertility in couples seeking treatment, and 44% of infertile men are diagnosed with idiopathic male infertility. Human environmental exposures are poorly understood due to limited available data. The latency between maternal and in utero exposure and a diagnosis in adulthood complicates the correlation between environmental exposures and infertility. The results from this review include recommendations for more and region specific monitoring of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure, longitudinal and clinical cohort considerations of exposure normalization, gene-environment interactions, in utero exposure studies, and controlled mechanistic animal experiments. Additionally, it is recommended that detailed semen analysis and male fertility data be included as endpoints in environmental exposure cohort studies due to the sensitivity of the male reproductive system to environmental pollutants, including PAHs.

Citing Articles

One-Year Impact of Occupational Exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons on Sperm Quality.

Pena-Garcia M, Moyano-Gallego M, Gomez-Melero S, Molero-Payan R, Rodriguez-Cantalejo F, Caballero-Villarraso J Antioxidants (Basel). 2024; 13(10).

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The role of DNA methylation on gene expression in the vertebrae of ancestrally benzo[a]pyrene exposed F1 and F3 male medaka.

Wan T, Mo J, Au D, Qin X, Tam N, Kong R Epigenetics. 2023; 18(1):2222246.

PMID: 37322851 PMC: 10281469. DOI: 10.1080/15592294.2023.2222246.

Lifestyle and environmental risk factors for unexplained male infertility: study protocol for Australian Male Infertility Exposure (AMIE), a case-control study.

Biggs S, Kennedy J, Lewis S, Hearps S, OBryan M, McLachlan R Reprod Health. 2023; 20(1):32.

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Urinary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolites are positively related to serum testosterone levels of males and serum estradiol levels of females among U.S. adults.

Yuan Q, Jin K, Zhou X, Qiu Z, Li J, Jin D Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2022; 13:1037098.

PMID: 36568073 PMC: 9768547. DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2022.1037098.

The effects of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) on mammalian ovarian function.

Perono G, Petrik J, Thomas P, Holloway A Curr Res Toxicol. 2022; 3:100070.

PMID: 35492299 PMC: 9043394. DOI: 10.1016/j.crtox.2022.100070.

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