Endocrine Disrupting Agents: Toxicological Aspects on Male Reproduction.

In the quest to enhance food production and quality of life, a variety of chemical agents that can protect crops and prevent vector borne diseases have emerged and are used indiscriminately by humans. Thus, they end up in the physiological systems through various routes. The male reproductive system is one of the highly sensitive physiological systems, despite having the blood-testis and blood-epididymis barrier. In this review, we provide a comprehensive analyses by systematically identifying specific studies that reported the relationship between endocrine disruptors and their toxicity on the male reproductive system at multiple levels. The toxicological aspects of pesticides (organophosphates, organochlorines, carbamates, pyrethroids and neonicotinoids), alkyl phenols, plasticizers, fungicides, herbicides, heavy metals, therapeutic agents, heavy metals, synthetic food preservatives, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other endocrine disrupting agents on the male reproductive system is detailed, with emphasis on the effects on endocrine signaling, HPG axis and the transgenerational toxicity. We report that endocrine disruptors can cause anatomical pathologies, destruction of specific cell types in the male reproductive organs, decreased spermatogenesis and thereby reduced sperm count, abnormality in the male gametes, altered hormonal production and transgenerational inheritance of the toxic effects.