Non-Targeted Analysis\nof Environmental Contaminants\nand Their Associations with Semen Health Factors in Men from New York\nCity

Characterizing the chemical composition of semen can\nprovide valuable\ninsights into the exposome and environmental factors that directly\naffect seminal and overall health. In this study, we compared molecular\nprofiles of 45 donated semen samples from general population New York\nCity participants and examined the correlation between the chemical\nprofiles in semen and fertility parameters, i.e., sperm concentration,\nsperm motility, sperm morphology, and semen volume. Samples were prepared\nusing a protein precipitation procedure and analyzed using liquid\nchromatography (LC) coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS).\nNon-targeted analysis (NTA) revealed 18 chemicals not previously reported\nin human exposome studies, with 3-hydroxyoctanedioic acid, a cosmetic\nadditive, emerging as a plausible candidate found to be at higher\nlevels in cases vs controls (<i>p</i> < 0.01) and associated\nwith adverse sperm motility and morphology. Four level 1 identified\ncompounds were found to have associations with semen health parameters;\ndibutyl phthalate and 2-aminophenol negatively impacted motility,\n4-nitrophenol was associated with low morphology, while palmitic acid\nwas found to be associated with both low morphology and low volume.\nThis study aims to utilize NTA to understand the association of contaminants\nof emerging concern (CECs) along with a full chemical profile to find\ntrends separating poor and normal semen health parameters from each\nother chemically. Our results suggest that the collective effects\nof many CECs could adversely affect semen quality.