As COP26 is in full swing, researchers have just figured out why air pollution is reducing sperm count.
- 92% of the world’s population lives in areas where the level of fine particles in the air exceeds the minimum safety standards set by the World Health Organization.
- These particles can come from sources such as car exhaust, factory emissions, forest fires and wood stoves.
Air pollution reduces sperm count because it causes inflammation in the brain. These are the results ofa new studypublished in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
The IKK2 inflammation marker
To reach this conclusion, the researchers did tests on mice, and realized that there was a link between the presence of the inflammation marker IKK2 in the body and the number of sperm in these animals. When exposed to polluted air, mice without the IKK2 inflammation marker did not have a reduction in their sperm count, unlike those with the marker.
“Our results showed that the damage caused by air pollution, at least with respect to sperm count, could be corrected by removing a single marker of inflammation in the brains of mice, making it possible to develop therapies that may prevent or reverse the adverse effects of air pollution on fertility”, explains the author of the study, Zhekang Ying, professor of medicine at UMSOM.
Many pathologies involved
Charles Hong, Director of Cardiology Research at UMSOM, adds: “These findings may impact areas other than fertility, as many conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease, can result from inflammation of the brain due to air pollution.”
