Trace elements levels in the serum, urine, and semen of patients with infertility.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Studies suggest that trace elements may have an adverse impact on male reproduction, even at low levels. We tried to investigate the relationships between these metals and semen quality in various body fluids among men with infertility. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 255 samples of blood, semen, and urine were collected from 85 men suffering from infertility. Inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry was used for the determination of 22 trace elements. We compared the results of the semen parameters with the results of the element determinations. RESULTS: Because of the high proportion of samples with values lower than the limit of detection for a number of the elements, only 8 of a total 22 trace elements were determined in the samples. When the concentrations of sperm were classified according to the World Health Organization's guidelines for normospermia, oligospermia, and azoospermia, statistically significant differences were found among Zn, Ca, Al, Cu, Mg, Se, and Sr concentrations in various serum, sperm, and urine samples (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: In the present study, we found significant correlations between concentrations of Zn, Ca, Al, Cu, Mg, Se, and Sr and semen parameters in various body fluids.

The use of a sequential extraction procedure for heavy metal analysis of house dusts by atomic absorption spectrometry.

In general, dust is considered as house or street dust. Indoor dust, as a contamination source, has been studied for many years. In this work, the original Community Bureau of Reference of the European Commission (BCR) three-stage sequential extraction procedure was applied to the fractionation of Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, and Zn in 20 house dust samples from five different areas of Sakarya, Turkey. Acetic acid, hydroxylammonium chloride, and hydrogen peroxide plus ammonium acetate were used for the first, second, and third steps of the BCR method, respectively. The extracts were analyzed for the studied heavy metals using flame atomic absorption spectrometry. Validation of the results was performed by using a standard reference material (BCR 701 Sediment) to certify the experimental results obtained and to evaluate the reliability of the method used. The elemental loadings typically increased in magnitude according to the area order: Izmit Caddesi>Ankara Caddesi >Erenler>Karaman>Korucuk. The results were in agreement with values reported in the literature.