Division of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Murcia School of Medicine, Murcia, Spain.
Division of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Murcia School of Medicine, Murcia, Spain; Health Research Methodology Group, Biomedical Research Institute of Murcia (IMIB-Arrixaca), El Palmar, Murcia, Spain; CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.
Sci Total Environ. 2018 Apr 15;621:201-209. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.256. Epub 2017 Nov 24.
Parabens are a group of alkyl esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid that are commonly added to personal care products, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and beverage and food processing as antimicrobial preservatives. Parabens have been reported to show estrogenic effects and affect male reproduction function in animal models, but human epidemiologic studies are still scarce. The objective of this study was to examine associations between urinary concentrations of parabens and semen quality and reproductive hormone levels. This was a cross-sectional study with 215 young university students (18-23years old) recruited between 2010 and 2011 in Southern Spain (Murcia Region). All men provided a urine, blood and semen sample on a single day. Urinary paraben concentrations (methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben and butylparaben) were measured by dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry detection. Semen quality was evaluated by measuring volume, sperm concentration, total sperm count (TSC), motility and morphology following WHO guidelines. Serum samples were analyzed for reproductive hormones, including follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, testosterone, inhibin B and estradiol using immunoassays. Associations between urinary concentrations of parabens and semen quality parameters and reproductive hormone levels were examined using linear regression, adjusting for potential covariates. Ninety-four percent of the men had detectable urinary concentrations of parabens. After taking into account important covariates, urinary concentrations of parabens or their molar sum were not significantly associated with any semen parameters or any of the reproductive hormone levels. Relative to men in the lowest quartile of sum of urinary paraben concentrations, the adjusted difference (95% CI) of TSC (millions) for men in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quartiles were 4.1% (-37.1;45.3), -1.6% (-41.9;38.8), and -9.8% (-52.5;32.8), respectively (P-trend=0.55). Our results suggest that, in young men, urinary parabens may not adversely impact reproductive function, but further research is warranted to confirm these findings in other male populations.
对羟基苯甲酸酯是一组烷基酯，通常作为抗菌防腐剂添加到个人护理产品、化妆品、药物以及饮料和食品加工中。对羟基苯甲酸酯已被报道具有雌激素作用，并在动物模型中影响男性生殖功能，但人类流行病学研究仍然很少。本研究旨在研究尿液中对羟基苯甲酸酯浓度与精液质量和生殖激素水平之间的关系。这是一项横断面研究，共纳入 2010 年至 2011 年在西班牙南部（穆尔西亚地区）招募的 215 名年轻大学生（18-23 岁）。所有男性均于同一天提供尿液、血液和精液样本。通过分散液-液微萃取和超高效液相色谱-串联质谱检测法测量尿液中对羟基苯甲酸酯浓度（甲基对羟基苯甲酸酯、乙基对羟基苯甲酸酯、丙基对羟基苯甲酸酯和丁基对羟基苯甲酸酯）。根据世界卫生组织的指南，通过测量体积、精子浓度、总精子数（TSC）、活力和形态来评估精液质量。使用免疫分析法分析血清样本中的生殖激素，包括卵泡刺激素、黄体生成素、睾酮、抑制素 B 和雌二醇。使用线性回归分析，在调整潜在协变量后，评估尿液中对羟基苯甲酸酯浓度与精液质量参数和生殖激素水平之间的关系。94%的男性尿液中可检测到对羟基苯甲酸酯。在考虑了重要的协变量后，对羟基苯甲酸酯或其摩尔总和与任何精液参数或任何生殖激素水平均无显著相关性。与尿液中对羟基苯甲酸酯浓度最低四分位的男性相比，第 2、3 和第 4 四分位的 TSC（百万）调整差异（95%CI）分别为 4.1%（-37.1；45.3）、-1.6%（-41.9；38.8）和-9.8%（-52.5；32.8）（P 趋势=0.55）。我们的研究结果表明，在年轻男性中，尿液中的对羟基苯甲酸酯可能不会对生殖功能产生不利影响，但需要进一步的研究来证实这些发现是否适用于其他男性人群。
