Sperm aneuploidy among Chinese pesticide factory workers: scoring by the FISH method.
BACKGROUND
A study of the prevalence of sperm aneuploidy among pesticide factory workers was conducted in Anhui, China.


METHODS
We recruited 75 men: 32 subjects from a large pesticide-manufacturing plant and 43 subjects from a nearby textile factory free of pesticide exposure. Each subject met the following criteria: age of 20-40 years; continuous work in the plant for 3 months prior to the study, no congenital anomalies or acquired disease of the external genitalia and no history of recent febrile illness or mumps. Within one hour after collection from each subject, semen was evaluated in terms of several parameters and smear slides were prepared.


RESULTS
Exposure assessment revealed that workers in the pesticide plant were exposed to ethyl parathion or methamidophos, each of which is a potent organophosphate pesticide, at a median level of 0.02 mg/m3 (8-hour time weighted average as measured by personal pump) while workers in the control plant had no such occupational exposure. Twenty-nine semen slides (13 from the exposed group and 16 from the unexposed group) were randomly chosen for aneuploidy scoring by the three-color fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) method with scorers being unaware of exposure status. Median semen parameters were as follows for exposed (and unexposed) men: abstinence period, 3 days (4 days); sperm concentration, 52.8x10(6)/ml (53.1x10(6)/ml); proportion of sperm with normal motility, 50.5% (61.3%); and proportion of sperm with normal morphology, 59% (61.5%). The specific chromosome abnormalities of interest were disomy for chromosome 18 and the three different types of sex chromosome disomy (i.e. XX, XY, YY disomy). The crude proportion of all aneuploidy combined was 0.30% and 0.19% for sperm from exposed and unexposed men, respectively. Poisson regression with overdispersion adjustment yielded significantly different crude risks of aneuploidy - 3.03 and 1.94 per 1,000 sperm from exposed and unexposed men, respectively - giving a rate ratio of 1.56 (95% CI, 1.06-2.31). The regression coefficients remained statistically significant after adjustment for inter-technician variability giving a rate ratio of 1.51 (95% CI, 1. 04-2.20).


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that occupational exposure to organophosphate pesticides moderately increases the prevalence of sperm aneuploidy.
Occupational Health Program Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
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Padungtod
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Hassold
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Millie
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Ryan
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Savitz
D C
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Christiani
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Xu
D000328:Adult; D000782:Aneuploidy; D002617:Chemical Industry; D002681:China; D002887:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 18 / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004247:DNA / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D007306:Insecticides / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008297:Male; D008743:Methyl Parathion / Q000009:adverse effects; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000175:diagnosis; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D016017:Odds Ratio; D009946:Organothiophosphorus Compounds / Q000009:adverse effects; D010278:Parathion / Q000009:adverse effects; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013076:Sperm Count / Q000187:drug effects; D013081:Sperm Motility / Q000187:drug effects; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000187:drug effects*; D013783:Textile Industry; D014960:X Chromosome / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D014998:Y Chromosome / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics
D007306:Insecticides; D009946:Organothiophosphorus Compounds; D008743:Methyl Parathion; D010278:Parathion; C014655:methamidophos; D004247:DNA