Key Lab of Medical Protection for Electromagnetic Radiation, Ministry of Education of China, Institute of Toxicology, College of Preventive Medicine, Army Medical University (Third Military Medical University), Chongqing, China.
Department of Toxicology, School of Public Health, Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, Guizhou, China.
Environ Pollut. 2021 Jul 1;280:116883. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116883. Epub 2021 Mar 20.
Exposure to outdoor fine particulate matter (PM)-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is linked to reproductive dysfunction. However, it is unclear which component of PAHs is responsible for the adverse outcomes. In the Male Reproductive Health in Chongqing College Students (MARHCS) cohort study, we measured the exposure levels of 16 PAHs by collecting air PM particles and assessed eight PAHs metabolites from four parent PAHs, including naphthalene, fluorene, phenanthrene, and pyrene in urine samples. We investigated compositional profiles and variation characteristics for 16 PAHs in PM, and then assessed the association between PAHs exposure and semen routine parameters, sperm chromatin structure, and serum hormone levels in 1452 samples. The results showed that naphthalene (95% CI: -17.989, -8.101), chrysene (95% CI: -64.894, -47.575), benzo[a]anthracene (95% CI: -63.227, -45.936) and all the high molecular weight (HMW) PAHs in PM were negatively associated with sperm normal morphology. Most of the low molecular weight (LMW) PAHs, such as acenaphthylene, fluorene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene, pyrene, chrysene, benzo[a]anthracene, ∑LMW PAHs and ∑16 PAHs, were correlated with increased sperm motility (all corrected P < 0.05). On the other hand, sperm normal morphology was all negatively associated with urinary metabolites of ∑OH-Nap (95% CI: -5.611, -0.536), ∑OH-Phe (95% CI: -5.741, -0.957), and ∑OH-PAHs (95% CI: -5.274, -0.361). Urinary concentrations of ∑OH-PAHs were found to be negatively associated with sperm high DNA stainability (HDS) (P = 0.023), while ∑OH-Phe were negatively associated with serum testosterone level and sperm HDS (P = 0.004). Spearman correlation analysis showed that except for the urinary OH-Nap metabolites, the rest of the urinary OH-PAHs metabolites were negatively correlated with their parent PAHs in air. The results of this study suggest that various PAHs' components may affect reproductive parameters differently. Inhalation of PAHs in air, especially HMW PAHs, may be a potential risk factor for male reproductive health.
暴露于室外细颗粒物（PM）结合的多环芳烃（PAHs）与生殖功能障碍有关。然而，目前尚不清楚是 PAHs 的哪个成分导致了不良后果。在重庆大学生男性生殖健康研究（MARHCS）队列研究中，我们通过收集空气 PM 颗粒来测量 16 种 PAHs 的暴露水平，并评估了尿液样本中来自 4 种母体 PAHs（萘、芴、菲和芘）的 8 种 PAHs 代谢物。我们研究了 PM 中 16 种 PAHs 的组成特征和变化特征，然后在 1452 个样本中评估了 PAHs 暴露与精液常规参数、精子染色质结构和血清激素水平之间的关系。结果表明，萘（95%置信区间：-17.989，-8.101）、䓛（95%置信区间：-64.894，-47.575）、苯并[a]蒽（95%置信区间：-63.227，-45.936）和 PM 中的所有高分子量（HMW）PAHs 与精子正常形态呈负相关。大多数低分子量（LMW）PAHs，如苊烯、芴、菲、荧蒽、芘、䓛、苯并[a]蒽、∑LMW PAHs 和∑16 PAHs，与精子活力增加呈正相关（所有校正 P<0.05）。另一方面，精子正常形态与∑OH-Nap（95%置信区间：-5.611，-0.536）、∑OH-Phe（95%置信区间：-5.741，-0.957）和∑OH-PAHs（95%置信区间：-5.274，-0.361）的尿代谢物均呈负相关。发现∑OH-PAHs 的尿液浓度与精子高 DNA 染色性（HDS）呈负相关（P=0.023），而∑OH-Phe 与血清睾酮水平和精子 HDS 呈负相关（P=0.004）。Spearman 相关分析表明，除了尿 OH-Nap 代谢物外，其余尿 OH-PAHs 代谢物与空气中的母体 PAHs 呈负相关。这项研究的结果表明，各种 PAHs 成分可能以不同的方式影响生殖参数。空气中 PAHs 的吸入，特别是高分子量 PAHs，可能是男性生殖健康的一个潜在风险因素。
