Reproductive Medical Center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Reproductive Medicine Center, Anhui Provincial Human Sperm Bank, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, NHC Key Laboratory of Study on Abnormal Gametes and Reproductive Tract, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Apr 1;867:161472. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.161472. Epub 2023 Jan 10.
Previous studies have reported potential adverse effects of exposure to ambient air pollutants on semen quality in infertile men, but studies on the general population have been limited and inconsistent, and the pollutants that play a major role remain unclear. This study aimed to explore the potential association between exposure to six air pollutants (PM, PM, NO, SO, O and CO) during different sperm development periods and semen quality among the general population, and to explore the interaction between different air pollutant exposures. We included 1515 semen samples collected from the Human Sperm Bank. We improved individuals' exposure level estimation by combining inverse distance weighting (IDW) interpolation with satellite remote sensing data. Multivariate linear regression models, restricted cubic spline functions and double-pollutant models were used to assess the relationship between exposure to six air pollutants and sperm volume, concentration, total sperm number and sperm motility. A negative association was found between SO exposure and progressive motility and total motility during 0-90 lag days and 70-90 lag days, and SO exposure during 10-14 lag days adversely affected sperm concentration and total sperm number. Sensitive analyses for qualified sperm donors and the double-pollutant models obtained similar results. Additionally, there were nonlinear relationships between exposure to PM, NO, O, CO and a few semen parameters, with NO and O exposure above the threshold showing negative correlations with total motility and progressive motility, respectively. Our study suggested that SO may play a dominant role in the adverse effects of ambient air pollutants on semen quality in the general population by decreasing sperm motility, sperm concentration and total sperm number. Also, even SO exposure lower than the recommended standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) could still cause male reproductive toxicity, which deserves attention.
先前的研究报告指出，接触环境空气污染物可能会对不育男性的精液质量产生不良影响，但针对普通人群的研究有限且结果不一致，而且起主要作用的污染物仍不清楚。本研究旨在探讨普通人群在不同精子发育阶段接触六种空气污染物（PM、PM、NO、SO、O 和 CO）与精液质量之间的潜在关联，并探讨不同空气污染物暴露之间的相互作用。我们纳入了来自人类精子库的 1515 份精液样本。我们通过结合反距离加权（IDW）插值和卫星遥感数据来改进个体暴露水平的估计。我们使用多元线性回归模型、限制性三次样条函数和双污染物模型来评估暴露于六种空气污染物与精液量、浓度、总精子数和精子活力之间的关系。结果发现，SO 暴露与 0-90 滞后天和 70-90 滞后天的前向运动精子和总运动精子以及 10-14 滞后天的 SO 暴露与精子浓度和总精子数呈负相关。对合格的捐精者进行敏感性分析和双污染物模型得到了类似的结果。此外，PM、NO、O 和 CO 暴露与一些精液参数之间存在非线性关系，NO 和 O 暴露超过阈值与总运动精子和前向运动精子分别呈负相关。我们的研究表明，SO 可能通过降低精子活力、精子浓度和总精子数在环境空气污染物对普通人群精液质量的不良影响中起主导作用。此外，即使是低于世界卫生组织（WHO）推荐标准的 SO 暴露仍可能导致男性生殖毒性，值得关注。
