The impact of toxic air has long extended beyond damaging just the lungs and heart. The latest study presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) reveals that air pollution directly affects the functioning of sperm genes, posing a significant threat to male fertility.
By tracking over 2,000 men for four years, epidemiologists from the University of Massachusetts uncovered a crucial biological mechanism. They determined that exposure to ozone and nitrogen dioxide during the sperm development phase leads to epigenetic modifications.
These modifications involve specific chemical markers (DNA methylation) that determine whether genes are activated or silenced without altering the underlying structure of the genetic code itself. Scientists described 39 DNA alterations linked to the toxic air mixture. Among them was the GNAS gene, which in medical science is associated with deteriorated sperm quality and fetal developmental abnormalities.
Although most of these epigenetic marks are erased during embryonic development, a portion still persists. This means that environmental issues can exert a long-term impact on the health of future generations.
As independent professors from the Universities of Manchester and Nottingham note, this study reinforces long-standing suspicions and forces reproductive medicine to view the impact of environmental factors on a completely different scale.
