New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Science News
from research organizations

Exposure to aluminum may impact on male fertility, research suggests

Date:
October 21, 2014
Source:
Keele University
Summary:
Human exposure to aluminum may be a significant factor in falling sperm counts and reduced male fertility, new research suggests. Fluorescence microscopy using an aluminum-specific stain confirmed the presence of aluminum in semen and showed aluminum inside individual sperm.
Share:
FULL STORY

New research from scientists in the UK and France suggests that human exposure to aluminum may be a significant factor in falling sperm counts and reduced male fertility.

Fluorescence microscopy using an aluminum-specific stain confirmed the presence of aluminum in semen and showed aluminum inside individual sperm.

And the team of scientists, at the universities of Lyon and Saint-Etienne in France and Keele in the UK, found that the higher the aluminum, the lower sperm count.

The research, led by Professor Christopher Exley, a leading authority on human exposure to aluminum at Keele, and Professor Michele Cottier, a specialist in cytology and histology at Saint-Etienne, measured the aluminum content of semen from 62 donors at a French clinic.

Professor Exley said: "There has been a significant decline in male fertility, including sperm count, throughout the developed world over the past several decades and previous research has linked this to environmental factors such as endocrine disruptors.

"Human exposure to aluminum has increased significantly over the same time period and our observation of significant contamination of male semen by aluminum must implicate aluminum as a potential contributor to these changes in reproductive fertility."

The mean aluminum content for all 62 donors was found to be very high at 339 ppb with the aluminum content of semen from several donors being in excess of 500 ppb. A statistically significant inverse relationship was found between the aluminum content of semen and the sperm count. Higher aluminum resulted in a lower sperm count.


Story Source:

Materials provided by Keele University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. J.P. Klein, M. Mold, L. Mery, M. Cottier, C. Exley. Aluminium content of human semen: implications for semen quality. Reproductive Toxicology, 2014; DOI: 10.1016/j.reprotox.2014.10.001

Cite This Page:

Keele University. "Exposure to aluminum may impact on male fertility, research suggests." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 October 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141021085114.htm>.
Keele University. (2014, October 21). Exposure to aluminum may impact on male fertility, research suggests. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 18, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141021085114.htm
Keele University. "Exposure to aluminum may impact on male fertility, research suggests." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141021085114.htm (accessed March 18, 2024).

Explore More

from ScienceDaily

RELATED STORIES