Declining semen quality and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs): Review of the literature to support the derivation of a reference dose for a mixture risk assessment

Abstract

To support a mixture risk assessment for chemicals that interfere with male reproductive health, we reviewed the literature to identify studies of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and poor semen quality. Several epidemiological studies have shown associations of PBDE exposures with declining semen quality, non-descending testes and penile malformations. In rodent studies, poor semen quality, changes in testosterone levels and reproductive tissues have been observed. In vitro studies with reporter gene constructs show PBDE congeners as androgen receptor antagonists, and mixture studies in these systems have demonstrated that PBDE congeners act together with other androgen receptor antagonists. These observations led us to attempt the estimation of reference doses for specific PBDE congeners that can be used in a future mixture risk assessment for deteriorations of semen quality. While epidemiological studies provide support for such associations, they were uninformative for derivations of reference doses, due to the incompatibility of dose metrics used in exposure assessments. We therefore based our estimates on animal studies. Using a rigorous confidence rating approach, we found robust evidence that BDE-47 produced reductions in semen quality. We identified only one high confidence study of BDE-99 and accordingly evaluated the strength of evidence as moderate. One high confidence, and several medium confidence experimental studies observed declines in semen quality after BDE-209 exposure. Using established risk assessment procedures, we estimated that BDE-47 exposures below 0.15 μg/kg/d are unlikely to lead to reductions in semen quality. The corresponding exposures for BDE-99 and BDE-209 are 0.003 μg/kg/d and 1000 μg/kg/d. It is planned to use these estimates as reference doses in a mixture risk assessment of deteriorations in semen quality, involving multiple other chemicals also contributing to poor semen quality.