Guimarães-Ervilha Luiz Otávio, Assis Mírian Quintão, Iasbik-Lima Thainá, da Silva Bento Isabela Pereira, Machado-Neves Mariana
Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Biol Trace Elem Res. 2025 Jan 9. doi: 10.1007/s12011-025-04513-4.
Arsenic in drinking water has been associated with an increased risk of health concerns. This metalloid is ingested and distributed throughout the body, accumulating in several organs, including the testis. In this organ, arsenic disturbs steroidogenesis and spermatogenesis and affects male fertility. Although testicular impairment induced by arsenic is well documented, it is still controversial whether such disturbance remains days after the removal of arsenic insult. Therefore, we used a meta-analytical approach to evaluate the magnitude of arsenic effects on testicular parameters and verify whether a withdrawal period can mitigate these alterations. The search terms 'testis" and 'arsenic' were used in PubMed/Medline, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. A total of 1,217 articles were obtained from the literature search, and 73 articles were included in this meta-analysis. Our results showed that arsenic negatively affected hormone synthesis and secretion, testicular weight, tubular and intertubular morphometry, and daily sperm production 24 h after ending exposure. Arsenic inhibited antioxidant enzyme activity, culminating in high oxidative metabolite production and apoptosis occurrence. Most of these effects were not observed in the testis between eight and fifty days after arsenic withdrawal, remaining endocrine dysregulation and oxidative metabolite production. Sodium arsenite was the most toxic compound to the testis at subchronic exposure. These findings shed light on the plasticity and regenerative capacity of testicular interstitium and spermatogonial stem cell niche. However, sexual hormone imbalance remained after arsenic removal. This review evidenced the importance of understanding its toxicity's short- and long-term effects on male reproductive competence.
饮用水中的砷与健康问题风险增加有关。这种类金属被摄入后会在全身分布，并在包括睾丸在内的多个器官中蓄积。在这个器官中，砷会干扰类固醇生成和精子发生，并影响男性生育能力。尽管砷引起的睾丸损伤已有充分记录，但在去除砷暴露后这种干扰是否会持续数天仍存在争议。因此，我们采用荟萃分析方法来评估砷对睾丸参数的影响程度，并验证戒断期是否可以减轻这些改变。在PubMed/Medline、Scopus和Web of Science数据库中使用了搜索词“睾丸”和“砷”。通过文献检索共获得1217篇文章，其中73篇文章纳入了本荟萃分析。我们的结果表明，在结束暴露24小时后，砷对激素合成和分泌、睾丸重量、曲细精管和间质形态计量学以及每日精子生成均产生负面影响。砷抑制抗氧化酶活性，最终导致高氧化代谢产物生成和细胞凋亡发生。在砷戒断后的八至五十天内，睾丸中大多未观察到这些影响，但仍存在内分泌失调和氧化代谢产物生成。亚砷酸钠在亚慢性暴露时对睾丸毒性最大。这些发现揭示了睾丸间质和精原干细胞龛的可塑性和再生能力。然而，去除砷后性激素失衡仍然存在。这篇综述证明了了解其毒性对男性生殖能力的短期和长期影响的重要性。
