Abstract
Triclosan (2,4,4′-trichloro-2′-hydroxy-diphenyl ether, TCS) is widely used in personal care, household, veterinary and industrial products. It was considered as a potential male reproductive toxicant in previous in vitro and in vivo studies. However, evidence from human studies is scarce. Our study aims to investigate the relationship between TCS exposure and semen quality. We measured urinary TCS concentrations in 471 men recruited from a male reproductive health clinic. TCS was detected in 96.7% of urine samples, with a median concentration of 0.97 ng (mg·creatinine)−1 (interquartile range, 0.41–2.95 ng (mg·creatinine)−1). A multiple linear regression analysis showed a negative association between natural logarithm (Ln) transformed TCS concentration (Ln-TCS) and Ln transformed number of forward moving sperms (adjusted coefficient β = −0.17; 95% confidence interval (CI) (−0.32, −0.02). Furthermore, among those with the lowest tertile of TCS level, Ln-TCS was negatively associated with the number of forward moving sperms (β = −0.35; 95% CI (−0.68, −0.03)), percentage of sperms with normal morphology (β = −1.64; 95% CI (−3.05, −0.23)), as well as number of normal morphological sperms, sperm concentration and count. Our findings suggest that the adverse effect of TCS on semen quality is modest at the environment-relevant dose in humans. Further studies are needed to confirm our findings.
Highlights
Triclosan (2,4,41 -trichloro-21 -hydroxy-diphenyl ether, TCS), a broad spectrum antimicrobial agent, is widely used in personal care, household as well as health care products, including toothpastes, antibacterial soaps, shampoos, deodorants, cosmetics, kitchen utensils, toys, bedding and clothes [1].The use of these products results in a large amount of triclosan entering sewage water and the ecosystem
There was no significant difference between included and excluded participants in demographic characteristics such as age, body mass index (BMI), education, smoking and drinking practices (Table A1)
Participants included in the final analysis had an average age of 31 years old with a median BMI of 24.0 kgm2
Summary
Triclosan (2,4,41 -trichloro-21 -hydroxy-diphenyl ether, TCS), a broad spectrum antimicrobial agent, is widely used in personal care, household as well as health care products, including toothpastes, antibacterial soaps, shampoos, deodorants, cosmetics, kitchen utensils, toys, bedding and clothes [1]. The use of these products results in a large amount of triclosan entering sewage water and the ecosystem. The daily contact of all types of TCS-containing products and the environment contributes to the wide spread exposure of TCS to human beings’. Public Health 2016, 13, 224; doi:10.3390/ijerph13020224 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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