Female Reproductive Abnormalities

Human studies also have reported associations between BPA exposures and female reproductive abnormalities, including effects on the ovary, uterus, and oocyte quality. Studies of BPA effects on ovarian morphology are limited and have focused on polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). One case control study (71 women with PCOS and 100 women without) reported a positive association between serum BPA levels and PCOS (Kandaraki et al. 2011). In three studies of women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF), BPA exposure was associated with a decrease in peak serum estradiol levels prior to oocyte retrieval, which may have negative effects on embryo quality (Ehrlich et al. 2012b Mok-Lin et al. 2010 Bloom et al. 2011a). 

Taurine deficiency is rare in adult humans but is common in domestic cats, due to poor absorption from tinned catfood. Consequences of taurine deficiency in cats are cardiomyopathy, retinal degradation, reproductive failure in females, developmental abnormalities and impairment of the immune system. It is possible that a chronic deficiency in humans may have similar effects. 

Hypogonadism. Estrogens, or a combination of estrogen and progesterone, may be used to treat abnormally low ovarian function. Appropriate use of these hormones induces the uterine changes and cyclic bleeding associated with the normal female reproductive cycle. 

Gibbs, P.E., Bryan, G.W., Pascoe, P.L., Burt, G.R., 1990. Reproductive abnormalities in female Ocenebra erinaces (Gastropoda) resulting from tributyltin induced imposex. J. Mar. Bio. Assoc. U.K. 70, 639-656. 

Prominent among toxicants that adversely affect both male and female reproductive systems are endocrine disruptors (see Section 9.7). Toxicants that mimic the actions of sex hormones are agonists, and those that prevent hormonal action or bind competitively to hormone receptor sites are antagonists,12 Male patients treated with cimetidine for peptic ulcers have exhibited low sperm counts and abnormal breast enlargement, a condition called gynecomastia. Gynecomastia has also been caused in men working in oral contraceptive production. Ketoconozole inhibits the enzymes required to produce hormones involved in sperm production and can immobilize sperm in seminal fluid. 

Reproductive toxicity Male or female reproductive system Decreased libido and impotence Infertility Interrupted pregnancy (abortion, fetal death, premature delivery) Infant death or childhood morbidity Altered sex ratio and multiple births Chromosome abnormalities and birth defects Childhood cancer... 

It has been reported that -50% of infertility problems are male in origin. However, male infertility often goes undetected, because low sperm count or abnormal sperm motility, combmed with normal female reproductive function, merely results in delayed conception. Most infertile men (80%) will not have a definable cause and are said to have so-called idiopathic impaired sperm function. In about 20% of cases, a cause can be determined. A study at Monash University Infertility Clinic in Australia indicated that primary testicular failure accounted for 11% of male patients seen 8.5% had genital tract obstruction, 0.5% had hypothalamic-pituitary disease, and less than 1% had coital disorders or abnormal sperm. A fist of the most common male infertility factors is given in Box 53-4. 

Very high amounts of selenium have resulted in decreased sperm counts, increased abnormal sperm, changes in the female reproductive cycle in rats, and changes in the menstrual cycle in monkeys. The relevance of the reproductive effects of selenium exposure in animals studied to potential reproductive effects in humans is not known. Selenium compounds have not been shown to cause birth defects in humans or in other mammals. 

Modern oral contraceptives can contribute to the incidence and severity of certain diseases if other risk factors are present. The following conditions are considered absolute contraindications for combination oral contraceptives the presence or history of thromboembolic disease, cerebrovascular disease, myocardial infarction, coronary artery disease, or congenital hyperlipidemia known or suspected carcinoma of the breast, carcinoma of the female reproductive tract, or other hormone-dependent/responsive neoplasias abnormal undiagnosed vaginal bleeding known or suspected pregnancy and past or present liver tumors or impaired liver function. The risk of serious cardiovascular side effects is particularly marked in women over 35 years of age who smoke heavily (e.g., >15 cigarettes/day) even low-dose oral contraceptives are contraindicated in such patients. 

As with the male rat, the early reports that erucic acid somehow interfered with reproduction in the female rat are difficult to assess because the diets that were used may have been low in essential fatty acids (Carroll and Noble, 1957). Decreased numbers of pregnancies, resorption, and pseudopregnancies were observed in female rats fed diets supplemented with either erucic or oleic acids. Somewhat more plausible are the reports that the ovarian cholesterol content is increased in rats fed a HEAR oil containing diet (Carroll and Noble, 1952). When rats were fed ethyl erucate mixed with corn oil which is high in essential fatty acids, there were no noticeable reproductive abnormalities in the females (Walker eta/., 1972). As in the adrenal gland, the erucic acid in the ovaries accumulated as the cholesterol ester. Also, the cholesterol esters of 20 4 n-6, 22 4 n-6, and 24 1 n-9 were increased in the ovaries from these rats. An interesting observation by these authors was that rats fed an olive oil containing diet with no erucic acid accumulated appreciable quantities of esterified erucic acid, i.e., 3.1% of the cholesterol ester fraction and 1.4% of the phospholipid fraction. It was... 

The pamoate salt (Cl U03-A) of tris ( -aminophenyl)carbonium (XXl) was effective in the treatment of japonicum dien given orally in a maxi mum dosage of 35- 0 mg/kg/day for as many as 52 days spread over a total treatment period of 203 days.This is in accord with previous findings95 The effects of tris (p-aminophenyl)carbonium salts (TAC) on mannoni are as follows 1) a reduction of glycogen in the cuticular tubercviles of males, 2) morphologic and functional alterations on the female reproductive system that lead to abnormal egg production and 3) inhibition of acetylcholinesterase activity in the nervous system of the worm. ... 

Lead is known to cause reproductive and developmental toxicity. Decreased sperm counts and abnormal sperm development have been reported in male workers heavily exposed to lead. Increased incidences of spontaneous abortion have been reported in female lead workers as well as in the wives of male lead workers (13). Lead crosses the placenta and has been found to cause irreversible neurologic impairment to the fetus at maternal blood levels as... 

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