Non-Targeted Assessment of Environmental Contaminants and their Correlations with Semen Health Factors in New York City

Characterizing chemical composition of semen can provide valuable insights into the exposome and environmental factors that directly affect seminal and overall health. In this study, we compared molecular profiles of 45 donated semen samples from general population New York City participants and examined the correlation between the chemical profiles in semen vs. fertility parameters, i.e., sperm count, sperm morphology, sperm motility and semen volume. Samples were prepared using a protein precipitation procedure and analyzed using liquid chromatography (LC) and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). Non-targeted analysis (NTA) revealed eighteen chemicals not previously reported in human exposome studies, with 3-hydroxyoctanedioic acid, a cosmetic additive, emerging as a plausible candidate found to be at higher levels in cases vs. controls (p < 0.01) and associated with adverse sperm motility and morphology. This study aims to be the first of its kind to utilize NTA to understand the association of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) along with a full chemical profile to find trends separating poor and normal semen health parameters from each other chemically. Our results suggest that the collective effects of many CECs could adversely affect semen quality.