Impact of High-Volume Chemicals on Androgen Signalling and Male Reproductive Health

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals, or EDCs, are the chemicals in the environment that can alter hormonal functions in humans and animals. Many industrial chemicals that act as EDCs are used and produced in large quantities worldwide. Because of their large-scale production, they are known as ‘High volume chemicals’ or HVCs. Humans and animals are exposed to these chemicals by day-to-day use of different products or through contaminated food or water. These HVCs greatly impact the hormone system of exposed living beings and their physiology. Many of these high-volume EDCs specifically interfere with male hormone (androgen) signalling by influencing biosynthesis, metabolism, and function of the Androgen Receptor (AR), resulting in a disruption of typical male developmental programming. As androgen is critical for male sexual differentiation, males are extremely susceptible to these androgen disruptors. Animal exposure studies demonstrate that these androgen disruptors lead to a decrease in sperm count, infertility, testicular dysgenesis, and prostate cancer, which is prevalent in many parts of the world today. Routinely used HVCs that can act as androgen-disruptors include Bisphenol (BPA), Phthalates, Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), Glyphosate and Methoxy, Methoxyacetic Acid (MAA), among others. These chemicals disrupt androgen signalling by different mechanisms and result in the disruption of normal male physiological processes. This review highlights the toxicities and molecular mechanisms of hormone disruption induced by these routinely used high-volume chemicals that disrupt androgen signalling.