Volume 2, Issue 1, Page 24

Environmental Epidemiology and Toxicology
formerly Journal Of Clean Technology, Environmental Toxicology And Occupational Medicine

March 2000, Volume 2, Issue 1, Pages 24 - 31

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Article

Presence of environmental toxicants in semen and blood of young men from the Teplice region, Czech Republic
MIROSLAV MACHALA¹, ROBERT ULRICH¹, JAN VONDRÁ C caron EK^1,2, JI R caron Í RUBE S caron ^1,3 & RADIM J. S caron RÁM³
¹Veterinary Research Institute, 62132 Brno, Czech Republic     ²Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 612 65 Brno, Czech Republic     ³Institute of Experimental Medicine, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 142 20 Prague, Czech Republic

Correspondence to: MIROSLAV MACHALA, Head, Department of Chemistry and Toxicology, Veterinary Research Institute, Hudcova 70, 62132 Brno, Czech Republic. Tel.: +420-5-4132-1241. Fax: +420-5-4121-1229.
E-mail: machala@vri.cz

Keywords

blood;   dioxin-like activity;   human;   persistent organic pollutants;   semen;   xenoestrogenicity

Abstract

Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine contaminants in ejaculate and whole blood samples from young men of the Teplice district (the Czech Republic) were determined. In the ejaculate, concentrations of PCBs, calculated as the sum of indicator congeners, were in the range 1.19 to 8.15 ng/ml. In the blood, content of PCBs was between 2.3 and 11.9 ng/ml. Hexachlorobenzene was detected in all ejaculate and blood samples in a similar concentration range (under 1 ng/ml). In some ejaculate samples, high concentrations of o,p'-DDE (2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloroethene) and especially p,p'-DDE and lindane (up to 25 ng/ml) were found. On the other hand, only low concentrations of DDT residues were determined in blood samples. No 4-nonylphenol and 17 beta -estradiol (potential xenoestrogen and major natural estrogen, respectively) were detected in selected semen and blood extracts. Using transgenic cell lines, the sample extracts were screened for estrogenic and dioxin-like activities in vitro. Both kinds of activities were detected in the samples. While the dioxin-like activity was generally quite low in both types of samples, we have detected relatively high estrogenic activity in several samples of semen and blood. Presence of estrogenic activity in samples of semen could suggest a possible mechanism of reproductive impairment in men. Environmental Epidemiology and Toxicology (2000) 2, 24-31.