News | Study Finds Everyday Organophosphate Pesticide Exposure May Reduce Sperm Motility
A joint study by NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the University at Albany found that everyday exposure to organophosphate pesticides may adversely affect sperm motility in healthy men. Published in Antioxidants, it provides new evidence of a possible link between environmental chemicals and male fertility.
Sample and methods
This cross-sectional pilot study included 42 healthy men aged 18–45. Researchers excluded people with urological disease or taking medication that might affect fertility and collected questionnaire data, body measurements, urine, and semen samples.
High-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS) measured urinary dialkyl phosphate (DAP) metabolites, recognized biomarkers of organophosphate exposure. Semen quality was assessed using World Health Organization standards, including sperm concentration, motility, and morphology.
The team also used MiOXSYS, a novel oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) method, to quantify oxidative stress in semen and assess whether it mediated effects on sperm quality.
Key findings
Higher urinary DAP concentrations were significantly associated with reduced sperm motility. Each 1-log-unit increase in total DAP concentration was associated with a 163% increase in the odds of low motility (OR = 2.63; 95% confidence interval: 0.98–9.03). Diethyl (DE) OP metabolites had the strongest effect.
Although higher ORP was significantly associated with lower sperm concentration (OR for low concentration = 3.95; 95% CI: 1.41–18.93), no statistical association was found between OP exposure and ORP. ORP was also not significantly associated with sperm motility.
This suggests that organophosphate pesticides may impair motility through mechanisms other than oxidative stress, such as disrupting acetylcholine signaling, which is important for sperm movement, or directly damaging mitochondrial function that drives the sperm tail.
Significance and outlook
This was the first systematic investigation of nonoccupational, low-dose organophosphate exposure and semen quality in healthy men. Its small sample limits generalization, but the preliminary findings are informative.
The team called for larger studies to confirm the association and examine possible biological mechanisms. The study also provides data for assessing pesticide residues in food and may prompt regulators to reconsider organophosphate use standards.
News | Study Finds Everyday Organophosphate Pesticide Exposure May Reduce Sperm Motility
News | Study Finds Everyday Organophosphate Pesticide Exposure May Reduce Sperm Motility
A joint study by NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the University at Albany found that everyday exposure to organophosphate pesticides may adversely affect sperm motility in healthy men. Published in Antioxidants, it provides new evidence of a possible link between environmental chemicals and male fertility.
Sample and methods
This cross-sectional pilot study included 42 healthy men aged 18–45. Researchers excluded people with urological disease or taking medication that might affect fertility and collected questionnaire data, body measurements, urine, and semen samples.
High-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS) measured urinary dialkyl phosphate (DAP) metabolites, recognized biomarkers of organophosphate exposure. Semen quality was assessed using World Health Organization standards, including sperm concentration, motility, and morphology.
The team also used MiOXSYS, a novel oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) method, to quantify oxidative stress in semen and assess whether it mediated effects on sperm quality.
Key findings
Higher urinary DAP concentrations were significantly associated with reduced sperm motility. Each 1-log-unit increase in total DAP concentration was associated with a 163% increase in the odds of low motility (OR = 2.63; 95% confidence interval: 0.98–9.03). Diethyl (DE) OP metabolites had the strongest effect.
Although higher ORP was significantly associated with lower sperm concentration (OR for low concentration = 3.95; 95% CI: 1.41–18.93), no statistical association was found between OP exposure and ORP. ORP was also not significantly associated with sperm motility.
This suggests that organophosphate pesticides may impair motility through mechanisms other than oxidative stress, such as disrupting acetylcholine signaling, which is important for sperm movement, or directly damaging mitochondrial function that drives the sperm tail.
Significance and outlook
This was the first systematic investigation of nonoccupational, low-dose organophosphate exposure and semen quality in healthy men. Its small sample limits generalization, but the preliminary findings are informative.
The team called for larger studies to confirm the association and examine possible biological mechanisms. The study also provides data for assessing pesticide residues in food and may prompt regulators to reconsider organophosphate use standards.
Source:
Collected online