Pulmonary exposure to carbonaceous nanomaterials and sperm quality

Astrid Skovmand, Anna Jacobsen Lauvas, Preben Christensen, Ulla Birgitte Vogel, Karin Sorig Hougaard, Sandra Goericke-Pesch*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    547 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Background: Semen quality parameters are potentially affected by nanomaterials in several ways: Inhaled nanosized particles are potent inducers of pulmonary inflammation, leading to the release of inflammatory mediators. Small amounts of particles may translocate from the lungs into the lung capillaries, enter the systemic circulation and ultimately reach the testes. Both the inflammatory response and the particles may induce oxidative stress which can directly affect spermatogenesis. Furthermore, spermatogenesis may be indirectly affected by changes in the hormonal milieu as systemic inflammation is a potential modulator of endocrine function. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of pulmonary exposure to carbonaceous nanomaterials on sperm quality parameters in an experimental mouse model.Methods: Effects on sperm quality after pulmonary inflammation induced by carbonaceous nanomaterials were investigated by intratracheally instilling sexually mature male NMRI mice with four different carbonaceous nanomaterials dispersed in nanopure water: graphene oxide (18 mu g/mouse/i.t.), Flammruss 101, Printex 90 and SRM1650b (0.1 mg/mouse/i.t. each) weekly for seven consecutive weeks. Pulmonary inflammation was determined by differential cell count in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Epididymal sperm concentration and motility were measured by computer-assisted sperm analysis. Epididymal sperm viability and morphological abnormalities were assessed manually using Hoechst 33,342/PI flourescent and Spermac staining, respectively. Epididymal sperm were assessed with regard to sperm DNA integrity (damage). Daily sperm production was measured in the testis, and testosterone levels were measured in blood plasma by ELISA.Results: Neutrophil numbers in the bronchoalveolar fluid showed sustained inflammatory response in the nanoparticle-exposed groups one week after the last instillation. No significant changes in epididymal sperm parameters, daily sperm production or plasma testosterone levels were found.Conclusion: Despite the sustained pulmonary inflammatory response, an eight week exposure to graphene oxide, Flammruss 101, Printex 90 and the diesel particle SRM1650b in the present study did not appear to affect semen parameters, daily sperm production or testosterone concentration in male NMRI mice.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalParticle and Fibre Toxicology
    Volume15
    Issue number1
    Pages (from-to)10
    Number of pages1
    ISSN1743-8977
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2018

    Bibliographical note

    © The Author(s). 2018. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

    Keywords

    • Computer-assisted sperm analysis
    • Inflammation
    • Nanomaterials
    • Particles
    • Pulmonary exposure
    • Semen parameters
    • Toxicity

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Pulmonary exposure to carbonaceous nanomaterials and sperm quality'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this