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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Editorial: Mammalian spermatogenesis: genetic and environmental factors
ClearEditorial: Lifestyle and environmental factors and human fertility
This editorial introduces research on how lifestyle and environmental factors — including microplastics — affect human fertility. Global infertility rates are rising, with evidence of declining sperm counts in men and increasing reproductive disorders in women, particularly in low- and middle-income regions.
Environmental determinants of male infertility: emerging threats and technological interventions
This review examines how environmental contaminants, including microplastics, air pollution, heavy metals, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals, may contribute to declining male fertility. The study suggests these environmental toxins can impair sperm function through oxidative stress, hormonal imbalance, and inflammation, and highlights the need for integrating environmental exposure data into fertility assessments.
Microplastics and male reproductive system: A comprehensive review based on cellular and molecular effects
This comprehensive review examines how microplastics affect the male reproductive system at cellular and molecular levels, drawing on studies from multiple scientific databases. Researchers found that microplastics can damage testicular structure and function, impair spermatogenesis, and disrupt sperm parameters through mechanisms including oxidative stress, inflammation, and activation of cell death pathways. The review highlights that microplastics reduce ATP production and trigger signaling cascades that may contribute to male fertility problems.
Editorial: Environmental toxicity in reproduction
This editorial introduces a Frontiers in Physiology research collection on environmental toxicity in reproduction. It provides context for peer-reviewed studies examining how environmental pollutants affect reproductive and developmental physiology.
Environmental and microbiome determinants of sperm quality: a narrative review on male health
This narrative review examines how environmental factors, including microplastics and other emerging contaminants, affect male sperm quality and fertility. The study suggests that pollutants such as heavy metals, pesticides, phthalates, PFAS, air pollution, and microplastics can impair sperm parameters through various mechanisms, and highlights the role of the reproductive microbiome in mediating these environmental effects.
Male infertility and its link to microplastics: A sterile future
This review examines the link between microplastic exposure and male infertility, summarizing evidence that microplastics and their chemical additives disrupt reproductive hormones, sperm quality, and testicular function in animal models and human studies.
Microplastics and impaired male reproductive health—exploring biological pathways of harm: a narrative review
This narrative review summarizes the evidence that microplastics may harm male reproductive health through oxidative stress, hormone disruption, inflammation, and direct damage to reproductive cells. While animal studies show concerning effects on sperm quality, testicular function, and fertility, human studies are still lacking. The review calls for urgent research on microplastic impacts on human male fertility and for policies to reduce microplastic exposure.
Targeting Modifiable Risks: Molecular Mechanisms and Population Burden of Lifestyle Factors on Male Genitourinary Health
This systematic review examines how lifestyle factors, including microplastic exposure, affect male reproductive health. Research shows that microplastics, along with other environmental contaminants, may contribute to declining sperm quality and male infertility, which now affects up to 50% of infertility cases worldwide.
Reproductive toxicity and related mechanisms of micro(nano)plastics in terrestrial mammals: Review of current evidence.
This review of terrestrial mammal studies found that micro- and nanoplastics induce reproductive toxicity through oxidative stress, inflammation, endocrine disruption, and DNA damage, affecting both male and female fertility. In males, effects include blood-testis barrier disruption and impaired spermatogenesis, while females show compromised oocyte maturation, ovarian fibrosis, and diminished ovarian reserve, with particles also capable of crossing the maternal-fetal interface.
Microplastics: A Threat for Male Fertility
This review examines the growing evidence that microplastics may pose a threat to male fertility in mammals. Researchers found that these tiny plastic particles can enter the body through food and water, accumulate in tissues, and carry environmental pollutants that may act as hormone disruptors. Recent studies suggest that microplastic exposure is associated with changes in sperm quality, making them a potential concern for reproductive health.
Quantitative analysis and toxicological mechanisms of various male infertility inducers: A network meta-analysis and pharmacological approach.
This network meta-analysis of 201 rodent studies compared nine common male infertility inducers, finding that microplastics caused among the most severe impairments to sperm count and motility — on par with the chemotherapy drug cyclophosphamide. Oxidative stress emerged as a shared mechanistic pathway across all inducers, pointing to it as a key target for understanding and potentially mitigating reproductive harm from environmental exposures.
Maternal Exposure to Polystyrene Nanoplastics Disrupts Spermatogenesis in Mouse Offspring by Inducing Prdm14 Overexpression in Undifferentiated Spermatogonia
When pregnant mice were exposed to nanoplastics (extremely small plastic particles), their male offspring had lower testosterone, fewer sperm, and damaged sperm-producing cells. The nanoplastics caused inflammation in the cells responsible for sperm production, disrupting a key gene (Prdm14) that controls sperm development. This suggests that a mother's plastic exposure during pregnancy could affect her sons' fertility later in life.
Transcriptome Profiling of Developing Testes and Spermatogenesis in the Qianbei Ma Goat
This paper is not relevant to microplastics research — it uses RNA sequencing to profile gene expression changes during testis development and spermatogenesis in Qianbei Ma goats at different stages of maturity.
The emerging risk of microplastics and nanoplastics on the microstructure and function of reproductive organs in mammals: A systematic review of preclinical evidence
Preclinical evidence from 12 studies shows micro- and nanoplastics accumulate in mammalian gonads, causing dose-dependent damage including seminiferous degeneration, sperm malformation, reduced follicular growth, and impaired hormone levels through pro-oxidant and pro-inflammatory mechanisms.
Microplastics: unraveling the signaling pathways involved in reproductive health
This review examines the effects of microplastics on male and female reproductive health, focusing on the metabolic pathways involved in compromised gamete quality, toxicity, apoptosis, and DNA damage. Evidence indicates that microplastics can increase oxidative stress leading to developmental abnormalities, epigenetic changes, and reduced gamete quality, though research on mammalian and human reproductive effects remains limited compared to studies in aquatic organisms.
Climate change, microplastics, and male infertility
This brief commentary discusses how climate change and exposure to environmental pollutants, including microplastics and endocrine-disrupting chemicals, may be contributing to the documented decline in male fertility over recent decades. While the exact causes remain unknown, the authors highlight the need for more research into how these environmental factors affect reproductive health.
Unravelling the potential mechanisms of nano- and microplastic toxicity to the male reproductive system: A systematic review
This systematic review found that micro- and nanoplastics accumulate in the testes and epididymis in rodent models, disrupting the blood-testis barrier, increasing germ cell death, reducing sperm motility, and causing hormone imbalance through oxidative stress and inflammation. Smaller nanoplastics penetrate tissues more readily for molecular disruption, while larger microplastics cause greater structural damage.
Microplastics Exposure Is Harmful to Male Reproductive Health
This chapter reviewed evidence on how microplastic exposure may harm male reproductive health through multiple pathways including ingestion and inhalation. The study examined mechanisms by which microplastics may disrupt reproductive function, including hormonal interference, oxidative stress, and inflammation in reproductive tissues, suggesting that widespread environmental microplastic contamination warrants attention as a potential factor in male fertility concerns.
Microplastics May Be a Significant Cause of Male Infertility
This review examines the potential link between microplastic exposure and the decline in male fertility observed over recent decades. Researchers reviewed evidence showing that microplastics can accumulate in reproductive tissues and may damage sperm quality through oxidative stress, hormonal disruption, and inflammatory responses. The study suggests that microplastics deserve serious attention as a possible contributing factor to rising male infertility rates.
Microplastics are detected in bull and dog sperm and polystyrene microparticles impair sperm fertilization
This study found microplastic particles in the sperm of bulls and dogs for the first time, confirming that reproductive fluids are not shielded from plastic contamination. When bovine sperm was exposed to polystyrene microplastics at concentrations matching what was measured in the animals themselves, motility dropped and fertilization success declined, with resulting embryos showing higher levels of oxidative stress and cell death. These findings raise serious concerns about microplastics as a contributing factor to the global decline in male fertility across mammalian species, including humans.
Impact of Oxidative Stress on Male Reproduction in Domestic and Wild Animals
This review examines how oxidative stress, an imbalance between harmful reactive oxygen molecules and the body's antioxidant defenses, impairs male reproductive function in both domestic and wild animals. Researchers found that oxidative damage to sperm can reduce fertility, compromise offspring health, and is worsened by environmental pollutants including microplastics. The study highlights the growing concern that environmental contaminants are contributing to reproductive decline across animal species.
What Does Androgen Receptor Signaling Pathway in Sertoli Cells During Normal Spermatogenesis Tell Us?
This review examines the role of androgen receptor signaling in Sertoli cells during normal sperm development. Researchers summarize how this signaling pathway regulates Sertoli cell growth and maturation, blood-testis barrier integrity, and various stages of sperm cell development. While not directly about microplastics, the paper provides context for understanding how endocrine-disrupting pollutants could potentially interfere with male reproductive function.
A meta-analysis-based adverse outcome pathway for the male reproductive toxicity induced by microplastics and nanoplastics in mammals
This meta-analysis of 39 studies mapped the adverse outcome pathway for microplastic and nanoplastic-induced male reproductive toxicity in mammals. Increased reactive oxygen species triggers a cascade of cellular damage including mitochondrial dysfunction, sperm DNA damage, and disrupted hormone signaling, ultimately leading to reduced sperm quality, impaired spermatogenesis, and decreased testosterone levels.
The Physiology of Reproduction – Quo vadis?
This review argues that reproductive physiology remains poorly understood at the systems level, with gamete production and gonadal hormone dynamics reflecting complex, redundant informational networks whose full quantitative and developmental dimensions — and vulnerability to environmental disruptors — are still largely uncharted.