Endocrine Disruptors: Very Low Doses with Genuinely High Impacts on Male Reproduction

Abstract

Endocrine disruptors (EDs) are chemical substances that affect physiological processes in the body via hormonal regulation. They are often detected in food, plastic water bottles, cosmetics, and many other daily need items. Thereafter, EDs are detected in many bodily fluids, pointing out the real exposure to even very low doses. Permanent and long-term utilization of EDs has harmful effects on male reproductive health mainly due to interference with sex hormone synthesis and mechanism of action. However, with decreasing dosage of EDs, the possibilities of unpredictable modes of action arise. In addition to various molecular actions of individual EDs, the interference of individual ones represents another dimension of the ED issue. This review provides an overview of the EDs and their possible impact on reproductive health in males, with focus on sperm quality with the mighty potential of epigenetic transmission to further generations. The “posttranslational” effect of EDs in really low doses in real exposure routes is stigmatized in this review, being strongly considered as creeping molecular action of individual EDs as well as amplifications of their copresence in the environment.