Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University School of Medicine, Taoyuan, Taiwan, ROC.
Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2012 Nov 8;10:91. doi: 10.1186/1477-7827-10-91.
Infertility affects approximately 10-15% of reproductive-age couples. Poor semen quality contributes to about 25% of infertile cases. Resulting from the direct effect on testicular function or hormonal alterations, heavy metals exposure has been related to impaired semen quality. The objective of this study was to assess the level of lead in the seminal plasma in men without occupational exposure to lead, and to determine the relationship between semen quality and lead concentration in the semen.
This is a prospective and nonrandomized clinical study conducted in University infertility clinic and academic research laboratory. Three hundred and forty-one male partners of infertile couples undergoing infertility evaluation and management were recruited to the study. Semen samples collected for the analyses of semen quality were also used for the measurement of lead concentrations. Semen samples were evaluated according to the WHO standards.
All subjects were married and from infertile couples without occupational exposure to lead. There is a significant inverse correlation between the lead concentration in seminal plasma and sperm count. A higher semen lead concentration was correlated with lower sperm count, but not with semen volume, sperm motility or sperm morphology as assessed by simple linear regression.
We found that semen lead concentration was significantly higher among the patients with lower sperm count. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that a high level of lead accumulation in semen may reduce the sperm count contributing to infertility of men without occupational exposure to lead.
不孕不育影响了大约 10-15%的育龄夫妇。精液质量差约占不孕病例的 25%。由于重金属暴露对睾丸功能或激素变化的直接影响，与精液质量受损有关。本研究的目的是评估无职业性铅暴露的男性精液中铅的含量，并确定精液质量与精液中铅浓度之间的关系。
这是一项在大学不孕不育诊所和学术研究实验室进行的前瞻性、非随机临床研究。招募了 341 名正在接受不育评估和管理的不育夫妇的男性伴侣参与研究。用于分析精液质量的精液样本也用于测量铅浓度。根据世界卫生组织的标准评估精液样本。
所有受试者均已婚，来自无职业性铅暴露的不育夫妇。精液中铅浓度与精子计数呈显著负相关。简单线性回归分析显示，较高的精液铅浓度与精子计数较低相关，但与精液量、精子活力或精子形态无关。
我们发现，精子计数较低的患者精液中的铅浓度显著较高。据我们所知，这是第一项表明精液中铅的大量积累可能会降低精子计数，从而导致无职业性铅暴露的男性不育的研究。
