Rhelyn Harder
- The expert was worried that there is a “shocking” drop in male fertility
- There was also a drop of quality sperm in domestic dogs over several decades and this could be an important clue
- Identifying two man-made chemicals commonly found in homes and diets that had the same adverse effect on both human and dog sperms
A study had been published in “Scientific Research.”
The expert was worried as there was a “shocking” drop in human male fertility and finding its cause could be the challenge for them. They suspected that the homes where the respondents lived and a chemical found in our food might reduce male fertility. But that does not apply to humans alone but to their dogs, as well.
According to the researcher, based on their latest findings, that in the past 80 years alone, there has been a 50 percent global reduction in sperm quality and do not have the idea why this is happening.
In 2016, a team from the University of Nottingham found that there was also a drop of quality sperm in domestic dogs over several decades and this could be an important clue. As for the dogs, the scientist traced back the effect of dangerous chemicals, foods, and environment of dogs on the decrease of sperm quality.
The researcher was curious about the results and questioned if “this meant there was something in the shared environment of dogs and people that was to blame?”
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On their new research, the results specifically identified two man-made chemicals commonly found in homes and diets that had the same adverse effect on both human and dog sperms.
“This new study supports our theory that the domestic dog is indeed a ‘sentinel’ or mirror for human male reproductive decline,” says Richard Lea, a reproductive biologist at the University of Nottingham.
The researcher gathered sperm samples from 11 men and 9 dogs in the same region, and tested the effects of two man-made chemicals, which are the common plasticiser DEHP and polychlorinated biphenyl 153 (PB153).
A common plasticiser DEHP is commonly found in carpets, flooring, clothes, and toys which can leach into our food and drink. The other is polychlorinated biphenyl 153 (PB153), which belongs to a group of industrial chemicals found to be persistent organic pollutants in the 1960s and 70s.
The team carried out the same experiments for the men and dogs by using the sperm samples and the two chemicals at their concentration levels. The result of the experiment showed reduced sperm motility and had increased fragmentation of DNA.
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The past laboratory and other studies of these chemicals are associated with the adverse effect on human fertility but due to the low number of sample sizes, they did not build matching results found in the 2016 study on dogs.
“We know that when human sperm motility is poor, DNA fragmentation is increased and that human male infertility is linked to increased levels of DNA damage in sperm,” says lead author Rebecca Sumner, a developmental biologist at the University of Nottingham.
“We now believe this is the same in pet dogs because they live in the same domestic environment and are exposed to the same household contaminants.”
There could be two reasons for using dogs that could help to figure out how pollution decreases fertility. First, because dog studies on fertility come without all the stigma and social complications of human studies, and secondly because external influences like diets are easier to control in dogs.
This study has been published in Scientific Reports.
