[Effects of occupational exposure to pesticides on semen quality of workers in an agricultural community of Merida state, Venezuela].

Numerous studies report adverse effects of pesticides on male reproductive health. The objectives of this study were to investigate whether there is a relationship between occupational exposure to pesticides and semen quality, and to determine whether chronic exposure to pesticides differentially affects semen quality in men of different ages. A comparative study of 64 farmers and 64 control men was performed.

Occupational exposure to organophosphate and carbamate pesticides affects sperm chromatin integrity and reproductive hormone levels among Venezuelan farm workers.

Objectives: Several reports suggest that chronic pesticide exposure may affect semen quality and male fertility in humans. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between occupational exposure to organophosphate (OP) and carbamate (CB) pesticides and semen quality, as well as levels of reproductive and thyroid hormones of Venezuelan farm workers.

Methods: Thirty-five healthy men (unexposed group) and 64 male agricultural workers (exposed group) were recruited for clinical evaluation of fertility status.

Highlights on ultrastructural pathology of human sperm.

Applications of atomic force microscopy to ultrastructural investigation of human spermatozoa are -discussed, with particular emphasis to their most common pathological alterations, which are recognized to be associated with male infertility. Morphological alterations can be located in the head, neck piece, and/or in the flagellum. The consequences of these defects on infertility-related topics are examined in the light of aberrations caused in varicocele and in other spermatozoa morphological alterations like globozoospermia, oligoasthenospermia, and in semen from patients with HIV syndrome.

[Evaluation of the quality of the human spermatozoon: comparison between spermatic DNA integrity and semen variables].

Semen analysis does not have an absolute predictive value on fertility, however it is a reflection of male fertility potential, which is related to its spermatozoa quality and other semen variables. Great variability in human semen parameters has been demonstrated within a single individual, an observation that could explain why a male with low semen quality can successfully fertilize an egg. Although conventional semen analysis, such as sperm concentration, motility and morphology, provide important information about the clinical status of male fertility, new procedures to predict the sperm functional capability have been developed in the last decade, such as analysis of nuclear DNA integrity, which have improved considerably the clinical diagnosis of male infertility, and increased the knowledge about spermatozoa function.