ArticleToxics2025
The Presence of Microplastics in Human Semen and Their Associations with Semen Quality.
Article in Toxics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- [Microplastic and male urogenital health: current evidence and clinical implications].Urologie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- Current Evidence Linking Microplastic Exposure and Reproductive Cancers.Journal of xenobiotics · 2026Review
- Article
- Increased seminal microplastic burden in men with varicocele: a controlled clinical study.International urology and nephrology · 2026Article
- Bioplastics Toxicity upon Ingestion: A Critical Review of Biotransformation and Gastrointestinal Effects.Polymers · 2026Review
- Article
- Epidemiology, Etiopathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Male Infertility-Current Trends and Future Directions: A Narrative Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Review
- Harmful Effects of Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Human Body Systems: A Systematic Review.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- From environment to organs: individual and combined effects of MPs and PFAS on urinary system health.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Review
- Microplastics in the seminal microenvironment of boar semen: associations with sperm motility and antimicrobial susceptibility.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Microplastics (MPs) are becoming one of the most serious environmental threats worldwide. They have been shown to induce male reproductive toxicity in animal studies. However, evidence of their adverse effects on male reproductive health in human is still lacking. In this study, we evaluated the presence of MPs in human semen and explored their associations with semen quality. A total of 45 semen samples from men attending a fertility center were collected. MPs in the semen samples were analyzed by laser direct infrared (LD-IR) spectroscopy. MPs were found in 34 out of 45 semen samples, with an average abundance of 17.0 (42.0) particles/g. The size of MPs ranged from 20.3 μm to 189.7 μm and the majority (57.8%) were smaller than 50 μm. A total of 15 distinct MPs polymers were identified, and polyethylene (PET) accounted for 35.9% of the total amount of MPs, followed by butadiene rubber (BR, 26.4%) and chlorinated polyethylene (CPE, 12.2%). Analysis of the association of MP exposure with semen quality showed that participants exposed to PET MPs experienced a reduction in sperm progressive motility (20.6% ± 12.8% vs. 34.9% ± 15.9%,
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.