Study Shows How Air Pollution May Affect a Mouse's Sperm

A mouse research discovered a potential way for air pollution to affect male fertility in animals.

Although it's unclear if the findings apply to people, the mouse model implies that inhaling tiny particulate matter with a diameter of less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) is connected to brain inflammation and a lower sperm count.

Air Pollution Affecting the Body

The recent research on mice provides some of the most compelling data on how air pollution affects mammalian reproductive to date. However, we are still a long way from understanding the process in people or devising a remedy.

"Our findings showed that the damage caused by air pollution - at least in terms of sperm count - could be reversed by removing a single inflammation marker from the brains of mice, suggesting that we may be able to develop therapies to prevent or reverse the damaging effects of air pollution on fertility," says Zhekang Ying, a University of Maryland researcher who studies the health effects of air pollution.

The researchers anticipate that their results will influence future fertility studies and how inflammation in the hypothalamus caused by air pollution may affect our heart and lung health. So the study has been overdue for a long time.

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