Distribution of Environmental Phenols into Follicular Fluid and Urine of Women Attending Infertility Clinic

Abstract

Infertility and environmental pollution are two globally prevalent and related issues. To explore women’s reproductive health, the composition of follicular fluid (FF) has been studied and it was found that changes to its composition, including the presence of exogenous chemicals, can adversely affect the fertilization process. Two groups of women (idiopathic infertility and controls) who were patients at a fertility clinic were recruited for this study. Samples of urine and FF were gathered from each participant to determine the concentration of 14 common phenols (four parabens, six bisphenols, two benzophenones, and two naphthols). Associations between phenol concentrations (free and total) in both matrices were described using Spearman’s correlation coefficient and were compared between two groups by the Mann–Whitney U test. Eight phenols were quantified in more than 50% of the urine samples, while only three parabens were quantified in hydrolyzed FF samples, and only methylparaben was quantified in non-hydrolyzed FF samples. Conjugates were the predominant form in FF samples. However, a significant correlation of 0.533 (p < 0.0001) was observed between free and total methylparaben concentrations in FF. Differences in concentrations between cases and controls in both matrices were not statistically significant, except for benzophenone-3 in urine, with a higher median observed in the control group (p = 0.04). The total paraben concentrations in urine and FF samples were rather weakly correlated (r = 0.232–0.473), implying that urine concentrations may not be appropriate for predicting their concentration in FF.