Does air pollution play a role in infertility?: a systematic review

Abstract

Background: Air pollution is involved in many pathologies. These pollutants act through several mechanisms that can affect numerous physiological functions, including reproduction: as endocrine disruptors or reactive oxygen species inducers, and through the formation of DNA adducts and/or epigenetic modifications. We conducted a systematic review of the published literature on the impact of air pollution on reproductive function. Eligible studies were selected from an electronic literature search from the PUBMED database from January 2000 to February 2016 and associated references in published studies. Search terms included (1) ovary or follicle or oocyte or testis or testicular or sperm or spermatozoa or fertility or infertility and (2) air quality or O 3 or NO 2 or PM2.5 or diesel or SO 2 or traffic or PM10 or air pollution or air pollutants. The literature search was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We have included the human and animal studies corresponding to the search terms and published in English. We have excluded articles whose results did not concern fertility or gamete function and those focused on cancer or allergy. We have also excluded genetic, auto-immune or iatrogenic causes of reduced reproduction function from our analysis. Finally, we have excluded animal data that does not concern mammals and studies based on results from in vitro culture. Data have been grouped according to the studied pollutants in order to synthetize their impact on fertility and the molecular pathways involved.

In vitro exposure to CPF affects bovine sperm epigenetic gene methylation pattern and the ability of sperm to support fertilization and embryo development

“…In the last decade, occurrences of infertility have significantly risen, and male factors have accounted for roughly 50% of these cases (Agarwall et al, ). Pollutants have been shown to contribute to infertility by causing defects during spermatogenesis and impairing reproductive capacities in exposed populations (Carré et al, ).…”

Lost relation between blood pressure and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D

“…Which factor (or factors) this could be is hard to imagine, as the most obvious lifestyle factors (food intake and physical activity) appear not to be involved. The emergence (or disappearance) of some sort of environmental pollutant(s), which may have BP as well as endocrine effects [21][22][23], could at least theoretically be such a factor.…”

Oxidative Stress in Male Infertility: Causes, Effects in Assisted Reproductive Techniques, and Protective Support of Antioxidants

“…Environmental pollution has been found to increase ROS generation and lead to a reduction in sperm quality. For instance, on the one hand and according to studies analyzing semen from human males exposed to traffic pollution, car smoke pollutants potentially reduce men fertility [63] by affecting membrane lipids, generating DNA damage, and even changing expression patterns of proteins involved in spermatogenesis [64][65][66]. On the other hand, continuous exposure to phthalate derivatives have been correlated to increases in reactive oxygen species and decreases in enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants in animal models [67], and in the seminal plasma of infertile patients involved in assisted reproductive programs [68].…”