Nickel-induced oxidative stress causes cell death in testicles: implications for male infertility

Aligarh region is well known for its lock industry. This lock industry utilises nickel for electroplating. There have been informal reports of infertility in men and women living near the lock industry. We analysed field water samples to investigate this link, and the results showed considerable nickel contamination. To further validate our results, we exposed male rats to relevant nickel levels in drinking water. This experimental exposure resulted in abnormal sperm morphology, decline in sperm count, significant change in activities of antioxidant enzymes, pronounced oxidative stress in the rat spermatocytes and decrease in serum testosterone level, as well as damage in the hypothalamus and pituitary (in all cases, the changes were most significant at the highest concentration used i.e 2.5 mg/l). The breeding experiments showed decline in live birth rate, while pups did not survive post birth in cages where males were given 2 and 2.5 mg/l concentrations of nickel in drinking water prior to mating. Our data strongly indicate a link between industrial nickel exposure and male infertility.