Concentrations of Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-Dioxins (PCDDs), Polychlorinated Dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and Dioxin-Like PCBs in Adipose Tissue of Infertile Men

Abstract

Some epidemiological studies suggested the occurrence of an alteration in the male reproductive function in the past 50 years, particularly a decrease in the sperm count and quality, an increase in the malformations frequency of the reproductive apparatus (cryptorchidism and hypospadias) and of testicular cancers. Especially according the laboratory animals studies, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) have been suspected to play a crucial and deleterious role in the alteration of human fertility. For this reason, we measured adipose tissue concentrations of PCDDs/Fs and dioxin-like PCBs in 23 fertile and 22 infertile men living in Ankara, Turkey. Adipose tissue samples were analyzed for PCDD/F and 12 dioxin-like PCB congeners using high-resolution gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry. For the fertile and infertile groups, the World Health Organization (WHO)(PCDD/F)-TEQ concentrations ranged from 3.0 to 15.8 pg/g fat and from 2.8 to 17.2 pg/g fat, respectively (4.4-31.5 and 4.7-22.3 WHO-TEQs/g fat, respectively, including dioxin-like PCBs) (p > 0.05). The mean concentrations of WHO(PCDD/F)-TEQ and WHO(PCB)-TEQ have been calculated as 7.2 and 12.5 pg/g (on a lipid basis) for the fertile group and 7.0 and 9.4 pg/g for the infertile group, respectively. Concentrations of each of the PCDD/F and dioxin-like PCB congeners were compared in fertile and infertile groups among themselves, and no statistical significance was obtained (p > 0.05), except 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzofuran (p = 0.0029) and 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9-octachlorodibenzofuran (p = 0.01).