Male reproductive health at risk due to exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances: Recent research highlights

Abstract

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a group of synthetic organic chemicals that are persistent in the environment as well as in wildlife and human body. Further, PFASs are considered as persistent organic pollutants. PFASs have been extensively used in many industrial and consumer products over the past several decades and, therefore, they are found in various environmental matrices. A large number of studies during the past decades have reported the toxic effects of these compounds on the male reproductive health including damage to the seminiferous tubules, changes in reproductive hormones level, and low sperm counts and the molecular mechanism(s) involved in such effects. In the present review, we have summarized the reproductive toxicity of some PFASs, namely, perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorooctane sulfonate, perfluorododecanoic acid, and perfluorononanoic acid in the male. This article briefly describes the findings on PFASs which may attract the attention of the reproductive toxicologists to examine the potential risk to the male reproductive health because of the continued contamination of the environment by these compounds.