Environmental and occupational exposures associated with male infertility

Abstract

The upsurge in male infertility over the last two decades, possibly due to environmental exposure, has raised significant interest, particularly boosted by reports from fertility clinics, which showed that chronic diseases and hereditary or other medical conditions might only partially explain current incidence of male infertility. Both environmental and occupational settings may have a significant role in exposure to complex mixtures of endocrine disruptors (ED), which play a major role in fertility disorders. The aim of this review is to give an insight into the current knowledge on exposure settings which may be associated with male infertility. Our study relied on a systematic search of PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science for articles published between January 2000 and September 2020. It showed that some well documented factors associated with male infertility include smoking, and physiological disturbances or chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes, which in turn, may also reflect lifestyle choices and environmental exposures, especially to EDs such as phthalates, bisphenols, pesticides, and flame retardants. However, the number of studies on the aetiology of male infertility is still too low in comparison with the size of affected population. Occupational health follow-ups and medical surveillance do not collect any data on male infertility, even though ED chemicals are part of many technological processes.

Application of the comet assay for the evaluation of DNA damage in mature sperm

“…The authors concluded that induced DNA damage could be converted to chromosomal aberrations and gene mutations after fertilisation, hence increasing the risks of developmental defects and genetic diseases among offspring. The above studies and other available literature indicate that several environmental and occupational agents, as well as certain lifestyle habits such as smoking, may affect sperm DNA integrity [236][237][238].…”

Multifactorial etiology of male and female infertility/ assisted reproductive technique

“…Pollution and several environmental causes can affect male fertility through epi\genomic way [18]. Occupational exposure to physical and chemical hazard that lead to male infertility and decrease sperm quality and motility [19,20]. Sitting for long time, high temperature exposure (bakeries and metallurgical industries) also affects the men fertility [21].…”

Oral thymoquinone modulates cyclophosphamide‐induced testicular toxicity in adolescent Wistar rats

“…More disturbing is that, most reproductive challenges have no known identifiable causes, marred by unclear pathologies. Exogenous agents, including pharmacological drugs, essential environmental chemicals and some occupational exposures have been linked to contributing to the burden of infertility (Dutta et al, 2021; Kumar, 2018; Marić et al, 2021).…”