SPERM CELL MOTILITY AND MORPHOLOGY IN RELATION TO ORGANOCHLORINE EXPOSURE IN INUIT AND EUROPEAN POPULATIONS

Abstract

ISEE-196 Introduction: Inconsistent results have been found in previous studies of sperm cell motility and morphology in relation to exposure to persistent organochlorine pollutants (POPs). the majority of these studies have been conducted among selected populations of infertility clients or occupational cohorts with a limited number of participants. Methods: We conducted a cross sectional study of semen quality and POP exposure by means of semen and blood samples from a total of 798 men from all regions in Greenland (n=201), fishermen from the east and west coasts of Sweden (n=191), inhabitants of the city of Warsaw, Poland (n=198) and inhabitants of the city of Kharkov, Ukraine (n=208). Blood samples were analyzed for CB-153 and p,p’-DDE using GC-MS. Sperm cell motility and morphology was measured according to the WHO (1999) guidelines and quality control was conducted to assess inter-observer variability. Multivariate statistics were used to analyze the association of the proportion of progressive motile sperm cells (WHO grade A+B) and proportion of sperm cells with normal morphology in relation to POP exposure controlled for population, abstinence time and age for both outcome variables and in addition time to analysis for sperm cell motility. Results: The lipid adjusted cb-153 serum concentrations varied greatly, with the highest exposure levels found in Greenland, followed by Sweden, Kharkov and Warsaw. p,p´-dde showed a different pattern with the highest exposure levels in Kharkov, followed by Greenland, Warsaw and Sweden. CB-153 and p,p´-DDE exposure levels were highly correlated in Greenland (r=0.92) and in Sweden (r=0.72), but less in Warsaw (r=0.40) and Kharkov (r=0.05). the sperm cell motility and morphology varied between populations, however, with no indication of any country being superior or inferior for both semen quality endpoints. Sperm cell motility was inversely related to log CB-153 exposure (β= −3.4; p=0.002) while the serum level of p,p’-DDE was not related to sperm cell motility independently of CB-153 exposure. the proportion of normal sperm cells did not reveal any significant association to either CB-153 or p,p’-DDE exposure. Conclusion: With the largest study performed to date on sperm cell motility and morphology, we observed that serum levels of CB-153 were negatively associated with sperm cell motility, but not with sperm morphology. As for p,p’-DDE concentrations, no association with the studied semen quality outcomes were seen.