Disruptors on Male Reproduction - Emerging Risk Factors

Continuous decline of semen quality in population over the past decades has attracted global concern. Although the damage factors of traditional environmental pollutants have been intensively investigated, their contributions could only explain a limited proportion of the reproductive damage. On the other hand, in modern society, emerging factors comprising novel environmental exposure (e.g., microplastics, flame retardants, substitute of traditional toxicants and biological contamination such as Covid-19), lifestyles (e.g., social jetlag, light at night, specific nutrients intake), and psychological stresses or disorders (e.g., negative events, anxiety, depression) have not been studied in depth. It is urgent to understand these novel factors in terms of populational spread/burden, impacts on male reproductive health (endocrinal disruption, semen damage, subfecundity and infertility) as well as the underlying mechanisms.

This Research Topic aims to provide insight to the contribution of novel environmental, life-style and psychological factors to male reproductive damage and the mechanism.
• Impact of the emerging environmental, life-style or psychological factors on male reproductive damage, including its consequential effect to embryo development and offspring health;
• Risk prediction based on the emerging (or with traditional) risk factors in population;
• Molecular mechanism of the emerging risk factors’ male reproductive toxicity;
• Prevention and medication of male reproductive damage with target to the emerging risk factors.