Rome, May 26, 2023 – Plastic microparticles in human sperm. a new environmental threat runs the risk of undermining the male fertility. To find out, a team of researchers from various Italian universities, led by Professor Luigi Montano of the ASL of Salerno. The samples examined belong to healthy, non-smoking men, residing in an area of Campania with a high environmental impact. Six out of ten tests were positive for the presence of microplastics.
The results were published in preprint in the journal ‘Total Environmental Scienceand presented at the Congress of Italian Society of Human Reproduction (Siru)in Syracuse.
The origin of microplastics
several me Chemical components of which the 16 types of microplastics discovered in human sperm are composed: polypropylene (Pp), polyethylene (Pe), polyethylene terephthalate (Pet), polystyrene (Ps), polyvinyl chloride (Pvc), polycarbonate (Pc), polyoxymethylene (Pom) and even acrylic material. As for its size, it varies from 2 to 6 microns: smaller than a speck of atmospheric dust.
the scholars Oriana Motta AND Maria Ricciardi from the University of Salerno, together with Elizabeth Giorgiani from the Marche Polytechnic University and marina piscopo of the Federico II University, have provided explanations about the probable origin of these fragments. “Its origin can be varied and can include cosmetics, detergents, toothpastes, facial and body creams, adhesives, beverages, food or even particles suspended in the environment,” it stands out. The routes of entry to the human organism can be through thediethe breathing and also there cutaneous route”.
The study of the Italian team
The study is part of the project activities. EcoFoodFertility, the first multicenter investigation in the world of human biomonitoring on the relationship between environment, nutrition and reproductive health. Long time, in various areas of high environmental risk, investigates the presence of contaminants and their effects on human healthfrom the evaluation of the human seed as a ‘sentinel’ of environmental and general health.
What emerges from the Italian study confirms an already worrying reality marked by increasingly negative records: theEnvironmental pollution affects human reproduction.a, and has a particular impact on male population.
The same group of researchers, already in January of this year, had announced in the magazine ‘toxic‘ have found very small plastic particles in urine of people residing in the northern part of Naples AND Salerno.
“We are continuing to investigate other human matrices which, if confirmed in ongoing experiments, would represent a demonstration of how much plastic pollution to consider. an emergency that must be attended to immediatelysays Montano. “Having already found them in such a sensitive matrix for the conservation and integrity of our transmissible heritage is certainly not comforting news; the future of our species is in dangertoday more than ever threatened in its essence”.
