Female Fertility and Environmental Pollution

Abstract

A realistic picture of our world shows that it is heavily polluted everywhere. Coastal regions and oceans are polluted by farm fertilizer, manure runoff, sewage and industrial discharges, and large isles of waste plastic are floating around, impacting sea life. Terrestrial ecosystems are contaminated by heavy metals and organic chemicals that can be taken up by and accumulate in crop plants, and water tables are heavily contaminated by untreated industrial discharges. As deadly particulates can drift far, poor air quality has become a significant global problem and one that is not exclusive to major industrialized cities. The consequences are a dramatic impairment of our ecosystem and biodiversity and increases in degenerative or man-made diseases. In this respect, it has been demonstrated that environmental pollution impairs fertility in all mammalian species. The worst consequences are observed for females since the number of germ cells present in the ovary is fixed during fetal life, and the cells are not renewable. This means that any pollutant affecting hormonal homeostasis and/or the reproductive apparatus inevitably harms reproductive performance. This decline will have important social and economic consequences that can no longer be overlooked.

Endocrine Disruptors Acting on Estrogen and Androgen Pathways Cause Reproductive Disorders through Multiple Mechanisms: A Review

“…EDCs can be released in the environment in many forms. These include pesticides, industrial waste, packaging, synthetic food and cosmetics [ 2 ]. Over the last decades, mounting scientific evidence has shown that the reproductive health of humans and wildlife has been adversely affected by the EDCs [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ].…”

Hexestrol Deteriorates Oocyte Quality via Perturbation of Mitochondrial Dynamics and Function

“…One emerging group of contaminants, endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), is exogenous substances or mixtures that cause dysfunction of the endocrine system, inducing multiple adverse health effects in humans through interaction with hormone receptors ( Schug et al, 2016 ). EDCs can be released into the environment in various forms, including pesticides, plastic debris, retardants, industrial waste, and cosmetics ( Chen et al, 2019 ; Canipari et al, 2020 ), and they can be absorbed, accumulated, and even converted to more toxic metabolites by the body ( Yuan et al, 2015 ; Ding et al, 2020 ). Studies have demonstrated that EDCs affect the reproductive systems of both sexes, causing congenital abnormalities and infertility ( Huang and Zeng, 2021 ; Walker et al, 2021 ; You and Song, 2021 ).…”

Dietary Habits and Relationship with the Presence of Main and Trace Elements, Bisphenol A, Tetrabromobisphenol A, and the Lipid, Microbiological and Immunological Profiles of Breast Milk

“…Some of these chemicals, including BPA, TBBPA and heavy metals, may act as endocrine disruptors. Therefore, their exposure above certain thresholds during foetal or early life may cause long-lasting negative effects on growth, development and health [34][35][36][37]. In this study, we elucidated whether there are potential associations between the maternal diet, the content of some major elements, trace metals, BPA and TBBPA, as well as the FAs, microbial, and immunological profiles of human milk.…”

“…The mean (95% CI) age of the participants (n = 53) was 35 (34,36) years, ranging from 25 to 43 years (Table 1). The median (IQR) body mass index (BMI) was 24.5 kg/m 2 (20.89-27.19 kg/m 2 ).…”