title: Pre- and postnatal exposure to ambient levels of urban particulate matter (PM(2.5)) affects mice spermatogenesis.
abstract: This work characterizes the effects of ambient levels of urban particulate matter (PM(2.5)) from the city of Sao Paulo on spermatogenesis using mice exposed during the embryo-fetal and/or postnatal phases of development. Parental generations (BALB/c mice) were exposed to air pollution in chambers with or without filtering PM(2.5) for 4 months. Animals were mated, and half of the 1-day-old offspring were moved between chambers, which yielded prenatal and postnatal groups. Remaining offspring comprised the non-exposed and pre+postnatal exposed groups. After 90 days, the animals were sacrificed for testis collection and weighing. Optical microscopy was used for the morphometric analyses of the cell counts, spermatogenic cycle, proliferation, and apoptosis. Prenatally exposed animals presented reduced body and testicular weight with an increased gonadosomatic index (GSI). Testicular volume also decreased, as well as the tubular diameter in testes of the same animals. Proliferation, apoptosis, and spermatogenic cycle analyses showed no significant differences among groups. However, the tubules at stage VII of pre- and postnatal animals presented a reduced number of elongated spermatids. Pre+postnatal group presented higher spermatid head retention at stages VIII-XII. These results show that ambient levels of PM(2.5) from Sao Paulo city affect spermatogenesis by damaging sperm production.
authors: Laboratório de Poluição Atmosférica Experimental, Departamento de Patologia, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. adrianapiresbio@gmail.com
authors: Adriana
authors: A
authors: Pires
authors: Elizabeth Neves
authors: EN
authors: de Melo
authors: Thais
authors: T
authors: Mauad
authors: Paulo Hilário
authors: PH
authors: Nascimento Saldiva
authors: Heloisa Maria
authors: HM
authors: de Siqueira Bueno
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002947:Cities; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D047109:Fetal Development / Q000187:drug effects; D019570:Inhalation Exposure; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000633:toxicity*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012098:Reproduction / Q000187:drug effects; D013087:Spermatids / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D013091:Spermatogenesis / Q000187:drug effects*; D013737:Testis / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D052638:Particulate Matter