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

According to recent studies, air pollution has a severe and catastrophic influence on human health, causing alterations in our lungs, hearts, and maybe even our brains. The reproductive system is certainly no exception, although the extent to which it is affected is unknown.

Infertility is unquestionably a problem in several parts of the world right now. Men's sperm counts in Western countries, for example, have dropped by half in the previous few decades. What remains a mystery, though, is what is causing these shifts.

Numerous animal and human research have discovered a relationship between air pollution and a reduction in sperm production.

As a result, air pollution is a major contributor to the infertility epidemic. However, whereas some animal studies have discovered that PM2.5 exposure causes testicular inflammation, others have not.

In these circumstances, something else must be causing the sperm loss, and a recent study on mice reveals it might be in human brains.

Related Article: WHO Report Shows that 7 Million Premature Deaths Occur Every Year Due to Air Pollution

Mouse Research

When healthy mice were exposed to PM2.5 in the ambient air, they had reduced sperm counts and substantial inflammation in the hypothalamus, similar to a prior study.

This forebrain area links to the pituitary and gonadal glands, forming an axis that affects hormone production and reproduction.

The authors discovered that unique mice lacking a crucial marker of inflammation in the hypothalamus called Inhibitor Kappa B Kinase 2 (IKK2 for short) dealt considerably better with the physiological effects of air pollution. In addition, normal mice's sperm impairment seems to have been terminated.

"All of these data support the idea of a causative involvement of hypothalamic inflammation in PM2.5-induced sperm production impairment," the authors write, "thereby offering a profound mechanistic insight into this rising public health problem."

Air Pollution on Mammals

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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