Associations between blood metal/ metalloid concentration and human semen quality and sperm function: A cross-sectional study in Hong Kong.

Abstract Background The association between metal/metalloid exposure on human sperm quality is still inconclusive. There is a lack of data on the effect of metal/metalloid on sperm function. Methods The aim of this study was to clarify the association between blood metal/metalloid concentration and traditional and functional sperm parameters, the blood concentration of Pb, Hg, Cd, As, Ni, Mo, Zn, Cu, Se, Fe, Mg, Cr and Ca of 288 men in Hong Kong were assessed by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, and sperm parameters including sperm concentration, motility, morphology, vitality, total sperm count, total motile sperm count, sperm DNA fragmentation and sperm acrosome reaction were measured. Demographic and lifestyle questionnaires were also provided for all participants. Multivariable linear regression analysis was performed to test the association between blood metal/ metalloid concentration and semen parameters after adjusting for relevant confounding variables. Results The results showed that moderate to high level of blood Pb concentration (>27.19 µg/L) appeared to be negatively associated with sperm morphology (P  1.44 µg/L) was negatively associated with sperm acrosome reaction (P  13.52 µg/L) was negatively associated with sperm vitality (P  6.20 mg/L) was positively associated with sperm vitality (P  Conclusions Our results suggested that the sperm function could be affected by blood Cd and Fe concentration and traditional sperm parameters could be affected by blood concentration of Mo, Zn, Pb, Mo and Ca.