Research question

Is polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure associated with the reproductive outcomes of IVF treatment?

Design

A prospective, small-scale monocentric cohort study of couples who underwent IVF treatment between January 2018 and June 2019. Both members of each couple answered a questionnaire on PAH exposure and provided urine samples to measure urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) the day before oocyte retrieval and semen collection for fertilization. To assess the specific PAH exposure of gamete cells, immunostaining was conducted on both spermatozoa and granulosa cells obtained during IVF with an anti-benzo(a)pyrene diol epoxide (BPDE) monoclonal antibody that recognizes BDPE-DNA adducts. To assess DNA damage, a comet assay on spermatozoa was conducted. The PAH exposure was compared between couples who had positive HCG and couples who had negative HCG on day 14 after embryo transfer.

Results

Eighteen couples were included. The mean 1-OHP level in women whose HCG tests were positive (n = 6) was significantly lower than that in women with negative HCG tests (0.098 [0.042–0.170] versus 0.177 [0.067–0.812] μg/g creatinine; P = 0.048). The presence of BPDE-DNA adducts in granulosa cells of women with a negative (29.7 [16.2–57.5] arbitrary units) or positive HCG test (20.3 [9.3–23.3] arbitrary units) were not significantly different (P = 0.092). The urinary 1-OHP levels of men and BPDE-DNA adducts in spermatozoa showed no differences between groups.

Conclusions

This exploratory research should encourage further studies to determine the effect of women's exposure to PAHs on reproductive outcomes of IVF treatment.

中文翻译：

---

多环芳烃暴露对体外受精的影响：现在是关注女性的时候了。

研究问题

多环芳烃（PAH）暴露是否与IVF治疗的生殖结果有关？

设计

对在2018年1月至2019年6月间接受IVF治疗的夫妇进行的一项前瞻性，小规模单中心队列研究。每对夫妇的两名成员均回答了一份有关PAH暴露的问卷，并提供了尿样以测量当天的尿中1-羟py（1-OHP）取卵前和收集精液以进行受精。为了评估配子细胞的特定PAH暴露，对IVF过程中获得的精子和颗粒细胞进行了免疫染色，使用的是识别BDPE-DNA加合物的抗苯并（a）diol二醇环氧化合物（BPDE）单克隆抗体。为了评估DNA损伤，对精子进行了彗星试验。在胚胎移植后第14天，对HCG阳性的夫妇和HCG阴性的夫妇进行PAH暴露比较。

结果

包括18对夫妇。HCG检测呈阳性的女性（n  = 6）的平均1-OHP水平显着低于HCG检测呈阴性的女性（0.098 [0.042-0.170]对0.177 [0.067-0.812]μg/ g肌酐；P  = 0.048）。阴性（29.7 [16.2-57.5]个任意单位）或阳性HCG测试（20.3 [9.3-23.3]个任意单位）的女性颗粒细胞中BPDE-DNA加合物的存在没有显着差异（P  = 0.092）。两组间男性的尿中1-OHP水平和BPDE-DNA加合物的水平没有差异。

结论

这项探索性研究应鼓励开展进一步的研究，以确定妇女接触PAHs对IVF治疗的生殖结局的影响。