Highlights
- •• Seminal plasma TCS concentration were quantitatively tested using UPLC-MS/MS.
- •• TCS exposure status of 100 low sperm quality men and 100 control men were assessed.
- •• Seminal plasma TCS were significantly associated with risk of low sperm quality.
Abstract
Objective
Triclosan (TCS), a novel endocrine disrupter, has induced widespread human exposure
due to its widespread use in personal care products. Environmental TCS exposure was
suggested to be associated with human semen quality. However, little is known about
seminal plasma TCS concentration and the risk of low sperm quality. This case-control
study is established to examine the relationship between seminal plasma TCS and the
risk of low sperm quality.
Study design
One hundred men with low sperm quality as cases and one hundred normal men as controls
were recruited a fertility clinic in Shijiazhuang, China, during 2018–2019. Seminal
plasma TCS concentration was determined using an ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-tandem
mass spectrometer (UPLC–MS/MS). Sperm concentration, sperm count, sperm motility and
sperm progressive motility were evaluated according to World Health Organization (WHO)
guidelines to assess the sperm quality. We used the Mann–Whitney rank–sum test and
Kruskal–Wallis test to assess the differences of seminal plasma TCS concentration
between the cases and the controls. In addition, logistic regression analysis was
used to estimate the associations between seminal plasma TCS concentrations and low
sperm quality risk adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI), abstinence time, smoking,
and drinking
Results and conclusions
The level of seminal plasma TCS was observed slightly but not significantly higher
in the case group than the control group. We also observed significant association
between seminal plasma TCS concentrations and semen parameters in both control and
case groups. Moreover, the seminal plasma TCS levels at the fourth quartile were found
to be more likely to exhibit low sperm quality risk with increased adjusted odds ratios
of 2.36 (95% confidence interval 1.03–5.39) compared to the first quartile. Our results
reveal that seminal plasma TCS concentration was positively associated with low sperm
quality risk.
Keywords
Abbreviations:
TCS (triclosan), UPLC-MS/MS (ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometer), WHO (World Health Organization), BMI (body mass index)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 21, 2023
Accepted:
February 18,
2023
Received in revised form:
February 7,
2023
Received:
April 26,
2022
Identification
Copyright
© 2023 Published by Elsevier B.V.
