The silent spermatozoon: are man-made endocrine disruptors killing male fertility?

Anawalt, Bradley D.

doi:10.1038/aja.2012.148

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Particulate Matter (PM) in the respirable range (PM 2.5) is of particular interest, because it can carry multiple trace elements and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), a group of compounds that include several endocrine disruptors. It is worth to mention that endocrine disruptors can affect both the hypothalamic-pituitary axis and testicular spermatogenesis and have the potential for causing sperm alterations ( 2 , 6 , 11 , 12 ). Additionally, some studies have suggested that environmental toxins alter sperm DNA integrity ( 9 ).…”

Section: Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air Pollution and Quality of Sperm: A Meta-Analysis

Najafi¹,

Roudsari²,

Namvar³

et al. 2015

Iran Red Crescent Med J

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Context:Air pollution is common in all countries and affects reproductive functions in men and women. It particularly impacts sperm parameters in men. This meta-analysis aimed to examine the impact of air pollution on the quality of sperm.Evidence Acquisition:The scientific databases of Medline, PubMed, Scopus, Google scholar, Cochrane Library, and Elsevier were searched to identify relevant articles published between 1978 to 2013. In the first step, 76 articles were selected. These studies were ecological correlation, cohort, retrospective, cross-sectional, and case control ones that were found through electronic and hand search of references about air pollution and male infertility. The outcome measurement was the change in sperm parameters. A total of 11 articles were ultimately included in a meta-analysis to examine the impact of air pollution on sperm parameters. The authors applied meta-analysis sheets from Cochrane library, then data extraction, including mean and standard deviation of sperm parameters were calculated and finally their confidence interval (CI) were compared to CI of standard parameters.Results:The CI for pooled means were as follows: 2.68 ± 0.32 for ejaculation volume (mL), 62.1 ± 15.88 for sperm concentration (million per milliliter), 39.4 ± 5.52 for sperm motility (%), 23.91 ± 13.43 for sperm morphology (%) and 49.53 ± 11.08 for sperm count.Conclusions:The results of this meta-analysis showed that air pollution reduces sperm motility, but has no impact on the other sperm parameters of spermogram.

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Section: Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air Pollution and Quality of Sperm: A Meta-Analysis

Najafi¹,

Roudsari²,

Namvar³

et al. 2015

Iran Red Crescent Med J

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“…Generally, in the most severe forms low serum testosterone is observed (35) and an increased risk of testicular cancer compared to milder forms has been highlighted (4, 36). Phthalates, vinclozolin, acetaminophen, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) seem to play a significant etiopathogenetic role in the onset of TDS (4, 37, 38). In female, there is little evidence regarding the effects of EDCs on fertility.…”

Section: Reproductive Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ovarian pathology seems to be related to the exposure to: PCB, phtalates, atrazine, genistein, BPA, TCDD, parabens, triclosan, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), and metoxychloride (MXC) (39, 41). Even in males, reproductive function may affected by pollutants and EDCs, but evidence is scarce; EDCs, such as phthalates, bisphenol A, biphenyls, and vinclozolin, widespread use of therapeutic drugs, obesity and sedentary life-style may play a crucial role in this supposed decrease of male fertility (3–5, 38, 42).…”

Section: Reproductive Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…AIP plays a pivotal role in regulating the response to XREs; as a matter of fact, its mutation brings about the loss of its function and consequently an alteration of biological pathways controlled by AhR causing an impairment in the response to XREs (53). Otherwise, in the presence of its ligands, AhR enters the nucleus and binds to its nuclear translocator, known as AhR nuclear translocator (ARNT), and to its coactivators creating a molecular complex whose function is to bind XREs activating specific target-genes (38, 54, 57). Besides the detoxification and bioactivation of XREs, AhR has been shown to regulate expression of enzymes necessary to the metabolism of endogenous substances (i.e., hormones) and to modulate a much wider range of cellular pathways involving proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis (5).…”

Section: A Model Of Endocrine Disruption: Ahrmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: Effects on Endocrine Glands

et al. 2019

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In recent years, endocrine disrupting chemicals have gained interest in human physiopathology and more and more studies aimed to explain how these chemicals compounds affect endocrine system. In human populations, the majority of the studies point toward an association between exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals and the disorders affecting endocrine axis. A great number of endocrine disrupting chemicals seem to be able to interfere with the physiology of hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis; however, every endocrine axis may be a target for each EDCs and their action is not limited to a single axis or organ. Several compounds may also have a negative impact on energy metabolic homeostasis altering adipose tissue and promoting obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes. Different mechanism have been proposed to explain these associations but their complexity together with the degree of occupational or environmental exposure, the low standardization of the studies, and the presence of confounding factors have prevented to establish causal relationship between the endocrine disorders and exposure to specific toxicants so far. This manuscript aims to review the state of art of scientific literature regarding the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on endocrine system.

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“…In a thoughtful, articulate contribution, Anawalt 2 concludes that the Carlsen meta-analysis 3 was flawed, its conclusions wrong and the putative explanatory hypothesis therefore lacks foundation. Nevertheless, he argues that these misadventures served as sentinels for potential perils of widespread man-made chemical pollutants, and raised scientific and community awareness of risks to male reproductive health.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Falling sperm counts and global oestrogenic pollution: postscript

Cooper¹,

Handelsman²

2013

Asian J Androl

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This Special Issue provides reflections after 20 years, summarized in 12 papers, on the controversial issue of alleged decline in human sperm output due to global oestrogen pollution by industrial chemicals.Virtanen et al. 1 offer no specific critique of the original papers but focus on male reproductive function in their native country because Finnish men allegedly have better sperm production than other Scandinavians. Despite this, from longitudinal studies of semen quality among European populations, they believe that young Finnish men had a declining sperm output between 1998 and 2006. They interpret this as Finland's following a global trend of impaired male reproductive health. As these multicentre studies adopt an uncontrolled population sampling methodology, the lack of evidence that the men included by participating centres truly represent the general male populations from which they were sampled means that inferences, whether relating to either time or place, remain unconvincing.In a thoughtful, articulate contribution, Anawalt 2 concludes that the Carlsen meta-analysis 3 was flawed, its conclusions wrong and the putative explanatory hypothesis therefore lacks foundation. Nevertheless, he argues that these misadventures served as sentinels for potential perils of widespread man-made chemical pollutants, and raised scientific and community awareness of risks to male reproductive health. He considers it likely that some new industrial chemicals ubiquitous in the environment are harmful to male human reproductive health, an area of scientific inquiry that was largely ignored before these articles appeared. In channelling Rachel Carson, however, he overlooks the consequences of her unbalanced pronouncements on the hazards of DDT. While DDT may have harmed certain wildlife (though this is disputed), there is no evidence that DDT ever harmed any humans. Indeed, the elimination of DDT from public health use for malaria prophylaxis had disastrous health and medical impacts involving the resurgence of malaria, causing millions of excess deaths and contributing to drug resistance, a public health disaster detailed elsewhere. 4 These salient unintended consequences of well-meaning but tunnel-visioned activism are less well known than deserved. Anawalt's sneaking admiration for what may seem harmless 'crying wolf' raises the question whether we can expect to make progress through sound science by accepting uncritically false alarms, however implausible, if they make flamboyant enough claims that attract public clamour. The endless opportunities for activists or crusading journalists to employ the hollow echo chamber of the internet for propagation of 'scares' among the general population are hardly a responsible voice of science. Can we justify shouting 'fire' in a crowded theatre on the grounds that it serves as an impromptu fire drill?Fisch and Braun 5 concur with Anawalt 2 that allegations of a worldwide decline in sperm output do not withstand scientific scrutiny. Summarising post-Carlsen studies, they find th...

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The silent spermatozoon: are man-made endocrine disruptors killing male fertility?

Cited by 10 publications

References 43 publications

Air Pollution and Quality of Sperm: A Meta-Analysis

Air Pollution and Quality of Sperm: A Meta-Analysis

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: Effects on Endocrine Glands

Falling sperm counts and global oestrogenic pollution: postscript

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