Environmental phthalates exposure is related to male infertility and other health endpoints in U.S. and Taiwan

Nowadays, phthalates esters are used to bring flexibility and stability into polyvinyl chloride products and numerous applications globally. Previous studies demonstrate that phthalates esters exposure leads to a increased risk of many adverse health effects, such as liver carcinogenesis, diminished cognitive and motor functions, or imbalanced endocrine system when a condition of dynamic equilibrium inside the body is not stable working at all. The period of sexual differentiation in utero induces reproductive malformations, such as epididymal and gubernacular agenesis, as it exposes to the certain phthalates esters. As phthalates esters exposure mainly targeting on fetal testes, it reveals decreased testosterone production and reduction of insulin-like peptide hormone three (INSL3) which reflect the number and differentiation status of Leydig cells and induce testicular dysgenesis syndrome. Perinatal phthalates esters exposure in utero, in vivo and in vitro discloses that disruption of Leydig and Sertoli cell maturation leads to an increased incidence of abnormal differentiation of germ stem cells and abnormal development of androgen-dependent tissues. High concentrations of metabolite phthalates that are detected in the exposed groups’ urine associate with reproductive abnormality. Histopathological changes of reproductive malformation also play the marginal diagnostic value to explain the climbing male fertility problems in the U.S. and Taiwan. Applications of phthalates esters are not easily to be replaced because of its economic value. Public Health issues with regards to the potential problem of phthalate exposure to the general population should be considered as potential risk that may affect infertility, when several earlier studies have been identified that multiple sources and routes of phthalates exposure entering human body are associate with male reproductive abnormality