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Updated: Aug 15, 2026
Long-term Behavioral and Reproductive Consequences of Embryonic Exposure to Low-dose Toxicants
Published on: March 6, 2018
Exposure to PCB and p, p'-DDE in European and Inuit populations: impact on human sperm chromatin integrity
1Section of Toxicology and Biomedical Sciences, BIOTEC-MED, ENEA Casaccia, 00060 Rome, Italy. spanomrc@casaccia.enea.it
Background:
Persistent organochlorine pollutants (POP), such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p, p'-DDE), are widely found in the environment and considered potential endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDC). Their impact on male fertility is still unknown.
Methods:
To explore the hypothesis that POP is associated with altered sperm chromatin integrity, a cross-sectional study involving 707 adult males (193 Inuits from Greenland, 178 Swedish fishermen, 141 men from Warsaw, Poland, and 195 men from Kharkiv, Ukraine) was carried out. Serum levels of 2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (CB-153), as a proxy of the total PCB burden, and of p,p'-DDE were determined. Sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) was used to assess sperm DNA/chromatin integrity.
Results:
We found a strong and monotonically increasing DNA fragmentation index with increasing serum levels of CB-153 among European but not Inuit men, reaching a 60% higher average level in the highest exposure group. No significant associations were found between SCSA-derived parameters and p, p'-DDE serum concentrations.
Conclusion:
These results suggest that human dietary PCB exposure might have a negative impact on the sperm chromatin integrity of adult males but additional issues, including differences in the genetic background and lifestyle habits, still need to be elucidated.
