title: Seminal lead and copper in fertile and infertile men.
abstract: Lead and copper concentrations were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy in semen from 18 fertile and 172 infertile men. Significant correlations between copper concentrations in semen and sperm concentration (r = 0.32, P less than 0.001), percentage progressive motility (r = 0.23, P less than 0.005) and normal morphology (r = 0.22, P less than 0.005) were observed, while no such correlation existed for lead. However, semen copper concentrations of infertile men (194.99 +/- 5.70 micrograms l-1) and fertile men (183.39 +/- 14.37 micrograms l-1) did not differ significantly. Mean lead concentration in semen of fertile men was 11.18 +/- 0.62 micrograms l-1 and significantly higher than lead concentration in semen of fertile men (5.61 +/- 0.53 micrograms l-1, P less than 0.006). Reinvestigation of 18 infertile men after 2 years showed a significant drop of lead concentrations in semen from 17.31 +/- 1.41 to 6.94 +/- 1.32 micrograms l-1 (P less than 0.0002), which might be related to the decreasing use of leaded petrol in the Federal Republic of Germany.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Reproduktionsmedizin, Universität Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jockenhövel
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bals-Pratsch
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Bertram
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nieschlag
mesh_terms: D003300:Copper / Q000378:metabolism*; D005298:Fertility; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000378:metabolism*; D007854:Lead / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D012661:Semen / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D013076:Sperm Count; D013081:Sperm Motility; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D007854:Lead; D003300:Copper