Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Disruptors on Male Reproduction – Emerging Risk Factors

This review of emerging risk factors for male infertility covers endocrine-disrupting chemicals, heavy metals, pesticides, radiation, and pharmaceuticals, including a section on microplastics and the plastic-associated chemicals that have been linked to hormonal disruption and reduced sperm quality. While microplastics are one of several disruptors discussed rather than the sole focus, the paper is relevant because it places microplastic exposure within the broader context of the global decline in sperm counts and male reproductive health over recent decades.

2023 Bangladesh Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism
Article Tier 2

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.

2026 Frontiers in Medicine
Article Tier 2

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.

2021 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 167 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2024 Journal of Biomedical Sciences
Article Tier 2

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.

2022 American Journal of Men s Health 81 citations
Article Tier 2

The role of environmental toxins in infertility: Insights from cutting-edge research

Researchers reviewed the effects of environmental toxins including bisphenol A, pesticides, heavy metals, microplastics, and electromagnetic fields on human fertility. The study found that these substances have been linked to both male and female infertility through various mechanisms, and highlights the need for greater awareness and regulatory action to reduce exposure to these reproductive toxicants.

2025 Scripta Medica 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Plasticisers: A Potential Reproductive-toxicant for Humans

This review examines plasticizers, particularly phthalates and bisphenols, as reproductive toxicants in humans, summarizing evidence that these chemicals leach from plastics and disrupt endocrine function, affecting fertility and fetal development. The authors highlight the need for stricter regulation given widespread human exposure through food packaging, personal care products, and household items.

2022 Chettinad Health City Medical Journal 8 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2024 Current Opinion in Urology 16 citations
Article Tier 2

Impacto de los disruptores endocrinos derivados de plásticos en la regulación hormonal masculina: un análisis integral de la evidencia científica

This literature review compiled recent studies on how phthalates, bisphenol A, and microplastics from plastic products disrupt male hormonal regulation, finding evidence for reduced testosterone, impaired testicular synthesis, and alterations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. The review calls for greater attention to plastic-derived endocrine disruptors in male reproductive health research.

2025 Revista Metropolitana de Ciencias Aplicadas
Review Tier 2

The Threat of Micro-/Nanoplastics to Male Fertility: A Review of the Data and the Importance of Future Research

This review synthesizes findings from 21 studies examining how micro- and nanoplastics and their associated endocrine-disrupting chemicals affect male reproductive health at the cellular level. Researchers found evidence of multiple toxicity mechanisms including damage to the blood-testis barrier, disruption of hormone signaling, oxidative stress, and structural damage to testicular tissues. The study notes that while these findings from cell and animal studies are concerning, translating the results to human health requires further research with realistic exposure conditions.

2025 International Journal of Molecular Sciences 1 citations
Review Tier 2

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.

2026 Translational Andrology and Urology
Article Tier 2

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.

2025 IntechOpen eBooks 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and Fertility

This paper reviews the growing body of evidence linking microplastic exposure to impaired human fertility, covering how microplastics and associated chemical additives can disrupt reproductive hormones and damage sperm and egg quality. It highlights the need for further research to establish dose-response relationships.

2024 Exon Publications eBooks
Article Tier 2

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.

2025 Biology of Reproduction 7 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

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.

2025 International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Article Tier 2

Toxicological effects of micro/nano-plastics on human reproductive health: A review

This review summarizes research on how micro- and nanoplastics affect human reproductive health in both men and women. Evidence from animal and lab studies shows that these particles can accumulate in reproductive organs, disrupt hormones, damage eggs and sperm, and cause inflammation and oxidative stress. While human studies are still limited, the growing body of evidence suggests that microplastic exposure is a potential threat to fertility that warrants further investigation.

2025 Toxicology Letters 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Reproductive toxicity of micro‐ and nanoplastics: Insights from experimental and human studies

This review examined 40 studies on how micro- and nanoplastics may affect human reproduction, finding that these particles have been detected in breast milk, placenta, ovaries, testes, and semen. Animal studies have linked plastic particle exposure to reduced sperm quality, disrupted egg development, smaller litter sizes, and possible effects passed to future generations. The evidence suggests that microplastic exposure may be a contributing factor worth investigating as global fertility rates continue to decline.

2025 Journal of Internal Medicine 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Unraveling the threat: Microplastics and nano-plastics' impact on reproductive viability across ecosystems

This review summarizes research on how microplastics and nanoplastics affect reproduction across many species, from aquatic invertebrates to mammals including humans. In males, exposure leads to testicular damage, lower sperm quality, and hormone disruption; in females, it causes ovarian and uterine problems, inflammation, and reduced fertility. The evidence also shows these reproductive harms can be passed to offspring, raising serious concerns about long-term effects on human fertility.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 44 citations
Review Tier 2

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.

2026 Toxicology Reports
Article Tier 2

Adverse effects of microplastics and nanoplastics on the reproductive system: A comprehensive review of fertility and potential harmful interactions

This review summarizes how microplastics and nanoplastics can harm both male and female reproductive systems by disrupting hormone signaling, damaging sperm and egg cells, and causing inflammation in reproductive tissues. Smaller nanoplastics are especially concerning because they can cross biological barriers more easily and reach the testes and ovaries. With global infertility rates rising, the authors highlight environmental plastic exposure as a factor that deserves more research attention.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 99 citations
Article Tier 2

IMPACT OF REAL-LIFE ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES ON REPRODUCTION: Impact of human-relevant doses of endocrine-disrupting chemical and drug mixtures on testis development and function

This review summarizes research on how mixtures of endocrine-disrupting chemicals and pharmaceuticals at realistic human exposure levels affect male reproductive health. The combined effects of pollutants including microplastics, pesticides, and common drugs can be more harmful together than individually, causing reduced sperm count, lower testosterone, and reproductive tract abnormalities. The findings highlight that studying chemicals one at a time underestimates the real-world risks people face from everyday environmental exposures.

2024 Reproduction 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of nano and microplastics on the reproduction system: In vitro and in vivo studies review

This review summarizes both lab and animal studies on how micro and nanoplastics affect the reproductive system in males and females. Evidence shows that microplastics can reduce sperm quality, damage ovaries, disrupt hormone levels, and even cross the placenta during pregnancy. The findings raise significant concerns about how widespread microplastic exposure might contribute to fertility problems and reproductive health issues in humans.

2023 Food and Chemical Toxicology 38 citations
Article Tier 2

REPRODUCTIVE TOXICOLOGY: Endocrine disruption and reproductive disorders: impacts on sexually dimorphic neuroendocrine pathways

This review summarized how endocrine-disrupting compounds — including plasticizers and persistent organic pollutants associated with plastics — interfere with sexually dimorphic neuroendocrine pathways governing reproduction, highlighting evidence for multigenerational effects and windows of particular developmental vulnerability.

2021 Reproduction 34 citations
Article Tier 2

Research Progress in Reproductive Toxicity of Micro- and Nanoplastics on Males and Its Mechanisms

This review summarized research on the reproductive toxicity of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) in males, finding that MNPs accumulate in reproductive organs and cause toxicity through oxidative stress, hormonal disruption, and DNA damage, with implications for both animal and human reproductive health.

2025 Hans Journal of Food and Nutrition Science