Short communicationSerum unconjugated bisphenol A concentrations in men may influence embryo quality indicators during in vitro fertilization☆
Highlights
► Bisphenol A (BPA) is a plastic monomer with estrogenic and aneugenic properties. ► We measured serum unconjugated BPA in couples receiving in vitro fertilization (IVF). ► Male, but not female BPA concentration was associated with embryo quality indicators. ► BPA exposure in the male partner of couples undergoing IVF may affect embryo quality.
Introduction
Growing evidence indicates that bisphenol A (BPA), a widely used plastic monomer, is a reproductive toxicant of public health importance (NTP, 2008). However, this issue remains controversial (Goodman et al., 2009, Vandenberg et al., 2009). BPA has been shown to disrupt oocyte nuclear competence during murine folliculogenesis (Hunt et al., 2003), with deleterious effects on nuclear maturation including increased mitotic spindle defects and meiotic arrest. BPA also binds to ‘classical’ nuclear estrogen receptors (Richter et al., 2007, Wetherill et al., 2007), and to ‘non-classical’ membrane-associated estrogen receptors (Luconi et al., 1999, Wozniak et al., 2005). However, the clinical implications of BPA estrogen receptor binding remain unclear (Luconi et al., 2001).
The potential public health significance of BPA-associated reproductive toxicity is underscored by its detection in 93% of the U.S. population (Calafat et al., 2008), as well as in human reproductive fluids (Inoue et al., 2002, Kaddar et al., 2009). In this preliminary study, we augment our prior work (Fujimoto et al., 2011b) describing an inverse association between female BPA concentrations and oocyte fertilization rates during in vitro fertilization (IVF). The current study describes associations between BPA concentrations and embryo quality indicators among a subset of couples for whom embryos were generated during IVF.
Section snippets
Materials and methods
The current analysis comprises a subsample of 27 couples participating in the previously described prospective cohort Study of Metals and Assisted Reproductive Technologies (SMART) (Bloom et al., 2011). This dataset includes only those members of the SMART cohort for whom embryos were generated during IVF, and for whom a sufficient volume of serum was available to complete BPA analysis in both the female patient and her male partner. Informed consent was obtained from all participants, and the
Results
Demographics for the SMART cohort have been previously described (Bloom et al., 2011). Among female and male SMART participants producing embryos, there are no meaningful differences in serum BPA concentration, age, or race (P ≥ 0.15 by Mann–Whitney U-test or Fisher's Exact test as appropriate) between subjects included in this analysis and those excluded (data not shown). The current subsample produced a median of 6.0 embryos (range 1.0–14.0) per couple, with median ECN equal to 6.4 (range
Discussion
The effects on embryo quality indicated by this study for only paternal serum BPA concentrations were unanticipated a priori. It is tempting to contemplate that the inverse association suggested for early embryo cleavage rate, may result from sperm integrity disruption. Whereas the nucleic acid sequence of sperm DNA does not appear to be directly altered by BPA (Bennetts et al., 2008), other structural changes have been reported in BPA-exposed sperm (Toyama et al., 2004), and structural changes
Conclusions
In summary, we describe inverse associations between serum unconjugated BPA concentrations measured in the male partners of women undergoing IVF, and embryo quality indicators. To our knowledge, these data represent the first evidence of male BPA exposure effects on human embryo quality and suggest a role for sperm quality on early embryo development. The limited sample size and scope of this study make these results preliminary; however, the provocative nature of these results warrants
Conflict of interest
Nothing declared.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Julia Sandler, Giulia Conti, and Natasha Narayan for their expert assistance with clinical recruitment and specimen processing.
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2022, Journal of Hazardous MaterialsCitation Excerpt :No age-specific differences in the concentrations of BPA and its metabolites were observed. Concentrations of BPA in serum and those reported in human blood matrixes from around the world are generally on the same order of magnitude [(He et al., 2009; Sajiki et al., 1999; Yoshimura et al., 2002; Liu et al., 2006; Bloom et al., 2011; Wan et al., 2013; Zhou et al., 2013)]. For example, the mean serum level of BPA (0.53 ng/mL) is similar to that in pooled Japanese serum (n = 20, mean 0.33−0.59 ng/mL) (Yoshimura et al., 2002), but lower than that in plasma from Hong Kong adults (n = 153, 0.95 ng/mL) (Wan et al., 2013).