ALUMINUM, LEAD AND CADMIUM CONCENTRATIONS IN SEMINAL PLASMA AND SPERMATOZOA, AND SEMEN QUALITY IN FINNISH MEN

Aluminium, cadmium and lead concentrations in the spermatozoa and semi nal plasma of 27 employees of two industrial companies, a refinery and a polyolefin factory, and 45 consecutive sperm donor candidates at a sperm bank were studied using atomic absorption measurements. The rela tionship between metal concentration and parameters of semen analysis was studied, A high concentration of aluminium in spermatozoa was corr elated with decreased sperm motility, The concentrations of cadmium an d lead were low and did not show any correlation with parameters of se men analysis. Aluminium may be one of the environmental pollutants cau sing impaired semen quality, The mean sperm concentrations were simila r in the factory employees (96 x 10(6)/ml), in the sperm donor candida tes of the comparison group (10(4) x 10(6)/ml) and in 352 donor candid ates at the sperm bank of the Family Federation of Finland (107 x 10(6 )/ml) between May 1993 and May 1995.