Water and soil pollution as determinant of water and food quality/contamination and its impact on male fertility.

Water and soil pollution as determinant of water and food quality/contamination and its impact on male fertility. Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2019 Jan 06;17(1):4 Authors: Di Nisio A, Foresta C Abstract Over the past two decades, public health has focused on the identification of environmental chemical factors that are able to adversely affect hormonal function, known as endocrine disruptors (EDs). EDs mimic naturally occurring hormones like estrogens and androgens which can in turn interfere with the endocrine system. As a consequence, EDs affect human reproduction as well as post and pre-natal development. In fact, infants can be affected already at prenatal level due to maternal exposure to EDs. In particular, great attention has been given to those chemicals, or their metabolites, that have estrogenic properties or antagonistic effects on the activity of androgen or even inhibiting their production. These compounds have therefore the potential of interfering with important physiological processes, such as masculinization, morphological development of the urogenital system and secondary sexual traits. Animal and in vitro studies have supported the conclusion that endocrine-disrupting chemicals affect the hormone-dependent pathways responsible for male gonadal development, either through direct interaction with hormone receptors or via epigenetic and cell-cycle regulatory modes of action. In human populations, epidemiological studies ha...
Source: Reproductive Biology - Category: Reproduction Medicine Authors: Tags: Reprod Biol Endocrinol Source Type: research