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Asian Journal of Andrology (2013) 15, 97–104; doi:10.1038/aja.2012.121; published online 10 December 2012
Environmental mercury exposure, semen quality and reproductive hormones in Greenlandic Inuit and European men: a cross-sectional study
Emina Mocevic1, Ina O Specht1, Jacob L Marott1, Aleksander Giwercman2, Bo AG Jönsson3, Gunnar Toft4, Thomas Lundh3 and Jens Peter Bonde1
1 Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital Bispebjerg, Copenhagen NV DK-2400, Denmark
2 Reproductive Medicine Centre, Skåne University Hospital Malmö, Lund University, Malmö SE-20502, Sweden
3 Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, Lund SE-22185, Sweden
4 Department of Occupational Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus DK-8000, Denmark
Correspondence: MSc E Mocevic, (emoc0001@bbh.regionh.dk)
Received 14 August 2012; Revised 18 September 2012; Accepted 25 September 2012
Advance online publication 10 December 2012
| Abstract |
Several animal studies indicate that mercury is a male reproductive toxicant, but human studies are few and contradictory. We examined semen characteristics and serum levels of reproductive hormones in relation to environmental exposure to mercury. Blood and semen samples were collected from 529 male partners of pregnant women living in Greenland, Poland and Ukraine between May 2002 and February 2004. The median concentration of the total content of mercury in whole blood was 9.2 ng ml−1 in Greenland (0.2–385.8 ng ml−1), 1.0 ng ml−1 in Poland (0.2–6.4 ng ml−1) and 1.0 ng ml−1 in Ukraine (0.2–4.9 ng ml−1). We found a significantly positive association between the blood levels of mercury and serum concentration of inhibin B in men from Greenland (β=0.074, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.021 to 0.126) and in an analysis including men from all three regions (β=0.067, 95% CI=0.024 to 0.110). The association may be due to beneficial effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which are contained in seafood and fish. No significant association (P>0.05) was found between blood concentrations of mercury and any of the other measured semen characteristics (semen volume, total sperm count, sperm concentration, morphology and motility) and reproductive hormones (free androgen index (FAI), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), testosterone and LH×testosterone) in any region. In conclusion, the findings do not provide evidence that environmental mercury exposure in Greenlandic and European men with median whole blood concentration up to 10 ng ml−1 has adverse effects on biomarkers of male reproductive health.
Keywords: blood mercury concentration; environmental mercury exposure; male fertility; reproduction; reproductive hormones; semen characteristics; semen quality |
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