The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl Substances and Sperm DNA Global Methylation in Arctic and European Populations

På svenska

Author

  • Giorgio Leter
  • Claudia Consales
  • Patrizia Eleuteri
  • Raffaella Uccelli
  • Ina O. Specht
  • Gunnar Toft
  • Tania Moccia
  • Alfredo Budillon
  • Bo A Jönsson
  • Christian Lindh
  • Aleksander Giwercman
  • Henning S. Pedersen
  • Jan K. Ludwicki
  • Valentyna Zviezdai
  • Dick Heederik
  • Jens Peter E. Bonde
  • Marcello Spano
Show all

Summary, in English

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are widely used in a variety of industrial processes and products, and have been detected globally in humans and wildlife. PFASs are suspected to interfere with endocrine signaling and to adversely affect human reproductive health. The aim of the present study was to investigate the associations between exposure to PFASs and sperm global methylation levels in a population of non-occupationally exposed fertile men. Measurements of PFASs in serum from 262 partners of pregnant women from Greenland, Poland and Ukraine, were also carried out by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) were detected in 97% of the blood samples. Two surrogate markers were used to assess DNA global methylation levels in semen samples from the same men: (a) average DNA methylation level in repetitive DNA sequences (Alu, LINE-1, Sat alpha) quantified by PCR-pyrosequencing after bisulfite conversion; (b) flow cytometric immunodetection of 5-methyl-cytosines. After multivariate linear regression analysis, no major consistent associations between PFASs exposure and sperm DNA global methylation endpoints could be detected. However, since weak but statistically significant associations of different PFASs with DNA hypo- and hypermethylation were found in some of the studied populations, effects of PFASs on sperm epigenetic processes cannot be completely excluded, and this issue warrants further investigation. (C) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Publishing year

2014

Language

English

Pages

591-600

Publication/Series

Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis

Volume

55

Issue

7

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Topic

  • Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine
  • Environmental Health and Occupational Health

Keywords

  • perfluoroalkyl substances
  • human spermatozoa
  • DNA methylation
  • pyrosequencing
  • flow cytometry
  • epidemiology

Status

Published

Research group

  • Reproductive medicine, Malmö

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1098-2280