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- Effect of various genotoxins and reproductive
toxins in human lymphocytes and sperm in the Comet assay.
- Anderson D, Dobrzyska MM, Basaran N
- Teratog Carcinog Mutagen 1997 17:1 29-43
- Abstract
- There have been conflicting reports as to whether
the mean sperm count in some men has diminished over the last
50 years. The downward trend has been suggested to coincide with
an increase in exposure to estrogen-like compounds. These estrogenic
substances are ubiquitous in the environment. We have examined
the effect of such substances (diethylstilbestrol, beta-estradiol,
daidzein, genestein, and nonylphenyl) in the single cell gel electrophoresis
assay (Comet assay) in human sperm and compared responses with
those from human peripheral lymphocytes in the same donor and
in peripheral lymphocytes from a female donor. In addition, effects
from the estrogens have been compared to those from known reprotoxins
and genotoxins. These include lead sulfate, nitrate and acetate,
dibromochloropropane, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether, 1,2-epoxybutene,
and 1,2,3,4-diepoxybutane. All compounds produced positive responses,
but ethylene glycol monoethyl ether only produced positive responses
in sperm cells in the male and not in peripheral lymphocytes,
and similarly the phytoestrogens (genistein, daidzein) were less
responsive in the peripheral lymphocytes in the male than in the
sperm. This may be due to greater sensitivity of sperm cells because
of their lack of repair. However, since damage was generally seen
over a similar dose range, a one-to-one ratio of somatic and germ
cell damage was observed and has implications for man for risk
assessment purposes.
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