ArticleEnvironmental health perspectives2025
Association between Perfluorooctanoic Acid-Related Poor Embryo Quality and Metabolite Alterations in Human Follicular Fluid during IVF: A Cohort Study.
Article in Environmental health perspectives, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Exposure to Legacy and Novel Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Diminished Ovarian Reserve: Evidence from Blood-Follicle Transfer and Mixture Risk Assessment in Reproductive-Aged Women.Environment & health (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Article
- Review
- Reevaluating statistical methods for proportion-based laboratory outcomes in assisted reproduction.Journal of ovarian research · 2026Review
- Association between PFAS compounds in follicular fluid and POR and the intervention effect of Qizi Yusi Tang: a study based on targeted PFAS quantification analysis.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Article
- PFAS exposure and reproductive dysfunction: implications for outcomes in assisted reproductive technologies.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Review
- Couples exposure to neonicotinoid insecticides and its influence on in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcomes.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2025Article
- Maternal exposure to fine particulate matter and pregnancy outcomes in women undergoingEco-Environment & Health · 2025Article
- Phytosphingosine contributes gut microbiota metabolism to alleviate low-grade endotoxemia-induced mastitis.Microbiome · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPerfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been shown to disrupt normal follicular development and ovulation. However, it is unknown which specific PFAS in follicular fluid negatively impact oocyte development and embryo quality or whether any of the metabolites present in the follicular fluid contribute to these adverse effects.
objectivesWe conducted a cross-sectional and cohort study to identify specific PFAS with significant adverse effects on embryo quality and their associated modes of action.
methodsWe enrolled 378 women undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART) and collected follicular fluid samples during oocyte retrieval. We performed PFAS detection and untargeted metabolomics on the follicular fluid. The associations of individual PFAS with high-quality embryo rates and clinical pregnancy outcomes were assessed using beta regression and logistic regression, respectively, and the potential joint effect of mixtures of PFAS was assessed using Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) and quantile g-computation models. A causal mediation effect model was performed to estimate the average indirect impact of PFAS, mediated by high-quality embryo rates, on clinical pregnancy outcomes, as well as its direct impact representing all other causal effects. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used to identify the associations between the differentially expressed metabolites and the high-quality embryo rates.
resultsThe detection frequencies of 15 PFAS exceeded 85%, and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) had the highest median concentration (
conclusionsHigh exposure to follicular fluid PFAS was negatively correlated with embryo quality during ART, with PFOA likely to be the major contributor. PFOA-related poor embryo quality was associated with the reduction of organonitrogens and sphingolipids metabolites that are crucial for the maintenance of normal cell growth and metabolism. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP15422.
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