Correlations between Different Heavy Metals in Diverse Body Fluids: Studies of Human Semen Quality

Table 1

Review of the measurement in the exposure to lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and mercury (Hg) and its relation with semen quality.

		Semen quality
		Morphology	Motility	Sperm concentration
Lead	Whole blood	Fatima 2010 [12]:	Telišman 2000 [13]:	Fatima 2010 [12]:
		(i) C≥35𝜇g/dL	(i) C=36.7𝜇g/dL	(i) C≥40𝜇g/dL
		(ii) Mr≤14%	(ii) Mt=𝑃<0.02	(ii) SpC≤20×10^6cells/mL
		(iii) 1999 criteria	(iii) 1987 criteria	(iii) 1999 criteria
		Mendiola 2011 [15]:	Fatima 2010 [12]:	Telišman 2000 [13]:
		(i) C=9.75𝜇g/dL	(i) C≥35𝜇g/dL	(i) C=36.7𝜇g/dL
		(ii) Mr≥14%	(ii) Mt≤50%	(ii) SpC=𝑃<0.05
		(iii) 1999 criteria*	(iii) 1999 criteria	(iii) 1987 criteria
			Mendiola 2011 [15]:	Mendiola 2011 [15]:
			(i) C=9.75𝜇g/dL	(i) C=9.75𝜇g/dL
			(ii) Mt≥50%	(ii) SpC≥20×10^6cells/mL
			(iii) 1999 criteria*	(iii) 1999 criteria*
			Meeker 2008 [17]:	Meeker 2008 [17]:
			(i) C=1.5𝜇g/dL	(i) C=1.5𝜇g/dL
			(iii) Mt=55%	(ii) SpC=42.7×10^6cells/mL
			(iii) 1999 criteria*	(iii) 1999 criteria*
	Blood blasma	Mendiola 2011 [15]:	Mendiola 2011 [15]:	Mendiola 2011 [15]:
		(i) C=2.88𝜇g/dL	(i) C=2.88𝜇g/dL	(i) C=2.88𝜇g/dL
		(ii) Mr≥14%	(ii) Mt≥50%	(ii) SpC≥20×10^6cells/mL
		(iii) 1999 criteria*	(iii) 1999 criteria	(iii) 1999 criteria
	Seminal blasma	Mendiola 2011 [15]:	Mendiola 2011 [15]:	Mendiola 2011 [15]:
		(i) C=2.93𝜇g/dL	(i) C=2.93𝜇g/dL	(i) C=2.93𝜇g/dL
		(ii) Mr≥14%	(ii) Mt≤50%	(ii) SpC≥20×10^6cells/mL
		(iii) 1999 criteria*	(iii) 1999 criteria*	(iii) 1999 criteria*
		Hernández-Ochoa 2005 [14]:	Hernández-Ochoa 2005 [14]:	Hovatta 1998 [16]:
		(i) C=0.2𝜇g/dL	(i) C=0.2𝜇g/dL	(i) C=2.5𝜇g/dL
		(ii) Mr=32%	(ii) Mt=44%	(ii) SpC=96×10^6cells/mL
		(iii) 1999 criteria	(iii) 1999 criteria	(iii) 1992 criteria
				Hernández-Ochoa 2005 [14]:
				(i) C=0.2𝜇g/dL
				(ii) SpC=11×10^6cells/mL
				(iii) 1999 criteria
Cadmium	Whole blood	Telišman 2000 [13]:	Mendiola 2011 [15]:	Mendiola 2011 [15]:
		(i) C≤1𝜇g/dL	(i) C=0.10𝜇g/dL	(i) C=0.10𝜇g/dL
		(ii) Mr=𝑃<0.005	(ii) Mt≥50%	(ii) SpC≥20×10^6cells/mL
		(iii) 1987 criteria	(iii) 1999 criteria*	(iii) 1999 criteria*
		Mendiola 2011 [15]:	Chia 1994 [20]:	Meeker 2008 [17]:
		(i) C=0.10𝜇g/dL	(i) C=0.095𝜇g/dL	(i) C=0.04𝜇g/dL
		(ii) Mr≥14%	(ii) Mt≥50%	(ii) SpC=42.7×10^6cells/mL
		(iii) 1999 criteria*	(iii) 1987 criteria	(iii) 1999 criteria
		Chia 1994 [20]:	Meeker 2008 [17]:
		(i) C=0.095𝜇g/dL	(i) C=0.04𝜇g/dL
		(ii) Mr≥50%	(ii) Mt=55%
		(iii) 1987 criteria	(iii) 1999 criteria
	Blood plasma	Mendiola 2011 [15]:	Mendiola 2011 [15]:	Mendiola 2011 [15]:
		(i) C=0.08𝜇g/dL	(i) C=0.08𝜇g/dL	(i) C=0.08𝜇g/dL
		(ii) Mr≥14%	(ii) Mot≥50%	(ii) SpC≥20×10^6cells/mL
		(iii) 1999 criteria*	(iii) 1999 criteria*	(iii) 1999 criteria*
	Seminal plasma	Mendiola 2011 [15]:	Akinloye 2006 [18]:	Akinloye 2006 [18]:
		(i) C=0.085𝜇g/dL	(i) C=65𝜇g/dL	(i) C=65𝜇g/dL
		(ii) Mr≥14%	(ii) Mt=35.75%	(ii) SpC=5.16×10^6cells/mL
		(iii) 1999 criteria*	(iii) 1999 criteria	(iii) 1999 criteria
		Bennof 2009 [19]:	Mendiola 2011 [15]:	Hovatta 1998 [16]:
		(i) C=0.028𝜇g/dL	(i) C=0.085𝜇g/dL	(i) C=0.15𝜇g/dL
		(ii) Mr=𝑃<0.05	(ii) Mt≤50%	(ii) SpC=96×10^6cells/mL
		(iii) 1992 criteria	(iii) 1999 criteria*	(iii) 1992 criteria
			Bennof 2009 [19]:	Mendiola 2011 [15]:
			(i) C=0.028𝜇g/dL	(i) C=0.085𝜇g/dL
			(ii) Mt=𝑃<0.05	(ii) SpC≥20×10^6cells/mL
			(iii) 1992 criteria	(iii) 1999 criteria*
				Bennof 2009 [19]:
				(i) C=0.028𝜇g/dL
				(ii) SpC=𝑃<0.05
				(iii) 1992 criteria
Mercury	Whole blood	Choy 2002 [21]:	Choy 2002 [21]:	Choy 2002 [21]:
		(i) C=40.6mmol/L	(i) C=40.6mmol/L	(i) C=40.6mmol/L
		(ii) Mr≤14%	(ii) Mr≤50%	(ii) SpC≤20×10^6cells/mL
		(iii) 1999 criteria	(iii) 1999 criteria	(iii) 1999 criteria
		Mendiola 2011 [15]:	Mendiola 2011 [15]:	Mendiola 2011 [15]:
		(i) C=1.99𝜇g/dL	(i) C=1.99𝜇g/dL	(i) C=1.99𝜇g/dL
		(ii) Mr≥14%	(ii) Mt≥50%	(ii) SpC≥20×10^6cells/mL
		(iii) 1999 criteria*	(iii) 1999 criteria*	(iii) 1999 criteria*
			Rignell-Hydbom 2007 [22]:	Rignell-Hydbom 2007 [22]:
			(i) C=0.225𝜇g/dL	(i) C=0.225𝜇g/dL
			(ii) Mt=54%	(ii) SpC=48×10^6cells/mL
			(iii) 1999 criteria	(iii) 1999 criteria
			Meeker 2008 [17]:	Meeker 2008 [17]:
			(i) C=0.11𝜇g/dL	(i) C=0.11𝜇g/dL
			(ii) Mt=55%	(ii) SpM=42.7×10^6cells/mL
			(iii) 1999 criteria	(iii) 1999 criteria
	Blood plasma	Mendiola 2011 [15]:	Mendiola 2011 [15]:	Mendiola 2011 [15]:
		(i) C=0.6𝜇g/dL	(i) C=0.6𝜇g/dL	(i) C=0.6𝜇g/dL
		(ii) Mr≥14%	(ii) Mt≥50%	(ii) SpC≥20×10^6cells/mL
		(iii) 1999 criteria*	(iii) 1999 criteria*	(iii) 1999 criteria*
	Seminal plasma	Mendiola 2011 [15]:	Mendiola 2011 [15]:	Mendiola 2011 [15]:
		(i) C=1.18𝜇g/dL	(i) C=1.18𝜇g/dL	(i) C=1.18𝜇g/dL
		(ii) Mr≥14%	(ii) Mt≥50%	(ii) SpC≥20×10^6cells/mL
		(iii) 1999 criteria*	(iii) 1999 criteria*	(iii) 1999 criteria*

Note: This table shows author, publication year, concentration of metal in whole blood, blood plasma, and seminal plasma, their effect on semen quality parameters, and the WHO criteria used to classify the semen quality.
C: concentration of the metal, Mr: morphology, Mt: motility, SpC: sperm concentration.
*Mendiola et al. use Kruger’s strict criteria (14% of normal forms) as a cutoff for sperm morphology [25].