Effect of Cadmium Exposure on Male Fertility

Abstract

Among the xenobiotics of diverse nature, heavy metals are especially dangerous for the human reproductive system in case of excessive intake. Cadmium, which is one of the most common toxic substances for the environment and production, can pose a potential threat to human health. An increasing amount of cadmium in the environmental objects and in nutrition is believed to be related to a poor semen quality. The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of cadmium on the reproductive potential of men who live in ecologically contrasting conditions. Material and methods. Clinical and hygienic assessment of the reproductive health was carried out among 2 experimental groups: the 1st group consisted of fertile men living in the city of Dnipro (62 respondents), the 2nd group included men with normal fertility living in the control city (37 respondents). To determine the cadmium concentration, venous blood samples and ejaculate were selected according to the standard methods. Biological samples were transferred to aliquots, frozen and stored at -20 ° C until analysis. The research was carried out using inversion voltammetry on the device AVA-2. Statistical processing of the results was carried out using statistical software packages of statistical analysis Statistica v.6.1 (StatsoftInc., США, licence NAJAR909E415822FA), Microsoft Excel. Results and discussion. Cadmium content in the blood and in the sperm of the fertile men of industrial city 1.3-5.8 times higher than the results of research in the control city and literature data. Differences between the cadmium content in the blood and semen of fertile men was shown to be unlikely, suggesting that the hematotesticular barrier is insufficient to protect the male reproductive organs from the toxic effects of the metal. The ejaculate in the fertile men of the studied cities is characterized by normosospermia and meets the standards. However in the residents of the industrial city the ejaculate quality indices were mostly at the lower level of the norm and were significantly worse than in the residents of the control city. Cadmium contained in male biosubstrates affect the hormonal status and quality of semen. Conclusion. Violations of spermatogenesis can serve as a rapidly-responding and reliable criterion for assessing the adaptation and maladaptation processes of men under the influence of xenobiotics of the environment, in particular cadmium. In this case, the markers of influence are the total number of sperm in the ejaculate, their concentration, mobility and the number of pathological forms, semen viscosity