Chongqing Medical and Pharmaceutical College, Chongqing, China.
NHC Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Reproductive Health, Chongqing Population and Family Planning Science and Technology Research Institute, Chongqing, China.
Front Public Health. 2024 Oct 3;12:1434054. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1434054. eCollection 2024.
In light of the undeniable and alarming fact that human fertility is declining, the harmful factors affecting reproductive health are garnering more and more attention. Iodoacetic acid (IAA), an emerging unregulated drinking water disinfection byproduct, derives from chlorine disinfection and is frequently detected in the environment and biological samples. Humans are ubiquitously exposed to IAA daily mainly through drinking water, consuming food and beverages made from disinfected water, contacting swimming pools and bath water, etc. Mounting evidence has indicated that IAA could act as a reproductive toxicant and bring about multifarious adverse reproductive damage. For instance, it can interfere with gonadal development, weaken ovarian function, impair sperm motility, trigger DNA damage to germ cells, perturb steroidogenesis, etc. The underlying mechanisms predominantly include cytotoxic and genotoxic effects on germ cells, disturbance of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, oxidative stress, inhibition of steroidogenic proteins or enzymes, and dysbiosis of gut microbiota. Nevertheless, there are still some knowledge gaps and limitations in studying the potential impact of IAA on reproduction, which urgently need to be addressed in the future. We suppose that necessary population epidemiological studies, more sensitive detection methods for internal exposure, and mechanism-based in-depth exploration will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of characteristics and biological effects of IAA, thus providing an important scientific basis for revising sanitary standards for drinking water quality.
鉴于人类生育率下降这一不可否认且令人震惊的事实，影响生殖健康的有害因素越来越受到关注。碘乙酸（IAA）是一种新兴的未受监管的饮用水消毒副产物，由氯消毒产生，经常在环境和生物样本中检测到。人类每天主要通过饮用水、饮用用消毒水制成的食物和饮料、接触游泳池和洗浴水等方式普遍接触 IAA。越来越多的证据表明，IAA 可能是一种生殖毒物，并带来多种不良的生殖损伤。例如，它可以干扰性腺发育、削弱卵巢功能、损害精子活力、引发生殖细胞 DNA 损伤、扰乱类固醇生成等。其潜在机制主要包括对生殖细胞的细胞毒性和遗传毒性作用、下丘脑-垂体-性腺轴的干扰、氧化应激、抑制类固醇生成蛋白或酶以及肠道微生物群落失调。然而，在研究 IAA 对生殖的潜在影响方面，仍然存在一些知识空白和局限性，这在未来需要得到解决。我们假设，必要的人群流行病学研究、更敏感的内暴露检测方法以及基于机制的深入探索，将有助于更全面地了解 IAA 的特征和生物学效应，从而为修订饮用水质量卫生标准提供重要的科学依据。
