Air Pollution Causes Sperm Mutations In Mice 53
Reservoir Hill writes "Epidemiological studies in humans have suggested a link between air pollution and reduced male fertility, but such studies are often confounded by other lifestyle differences such as diet, genetic background, and economic class. Now a study of mice, reared in cages kept in a shed downwind of two steel mills and a busy highway in a Canadian city, showed a host of genetic changes compared to similarly housed mice breathing filtered air. DNA in the sperm of the mice in the polluted area contained 60% more mutations, had more strand breaks, and had more bases that had been chemically modified via the addition of a methyl group. Precisely how the pollution caused the DNA damage remains unclear but changes may be a more general response to particulate pollution. 'It's important to move this forward to the next step: determining whether there are any human corollaries to this,' says Jonathan Samet, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University."
Mutations (Score:2, Funny)
And no, I don't want to talk about it.
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"Try to take over a sperm bank!"
"Oblig." so I might as well do it (Score:1)
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In which case you should probably be welcoming our low-digit-Slashdot-commenter Overlords.
The REAL question is... (Score:3, Funny)
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Mice (Score:2)
But this seems like a pretty significant argument to take pollution seriously. Perhaps some of the methylation sites in particular will have human analogues that can be easily tested for (though, too, at least from the nutrient studies I've read, mice seem to be ridiculously sensitive to methylation).
I think there'll be lots and lots and lots of things about
Uh... Dumb question BUT... (Score:1)
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Reactive Oxygen Species (Score:4, Informative)
It bears mentioning, though, that much like the picture for radiation, it is just about certain that there is more to the story than just oxygenation. High LET radiation (think alpha particles compared to, say, low-energy x-rays) cause damage that is virtually unaffected by oxygen concentration, so we know there's more to the story.
Given how relatively poorly understood are the biological changes due to ionizing radiation, it's a little surprising to me, at least, that we don't know more about the mechanistics of damage due to "pollution." Many, many more people deal with high doses of pollution than deal with high doses of radiation, and it's a lot easier (usually) to control who gets the radiation as opposed to who breathes in the pollution. Anyhow, I suppose what I'm saying is that it shouldn't be surprising that ROS-es might be fingered as _a_ cause, but it'd be shortsighted to think of them as the only cause--not that it seems that's happened here, fortunately.
Specifics get interesting (Score:2)
Personally, I find it rather fascinating to be at the point of genetics that we can be mapping such subtle causal relationships, genetic and environmental.
Also interesting to me, as a side thought-experiment, is it appea
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It would appear not all would agree with your summary dismissal of the characterization, though. [bio-pro.de]
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I will gladly volenteer (Score:2, Funny)
Not that I would be adverse to living in a smoggy hell-hole - so long as they pay for room & board and "collect" my sperm on a regular basis.
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Prerequisites to use of an AV are that the male be conscious, not significantly frightened of people, and more interested in ejaculating than in killing humans.
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Re:Mutation's not all bad... (Score:1)
This is good news ... (Score:1)
In other words : the system works. Hoorray ! Perhaps it does the same in humans.
Isn't this therefore perfectly normal ? Or are you all believers in intelligent design ? This is a good thing, and regardless, we can't stop it (and w
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Evolution is great, by the way, unless you're the one doing the evolving.
Startling conclusion... (Score:2)
Remember kids (Score:2, Funny)
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Flouridation.
Hmm.
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Mandrake: Yes, Jack?
Ripper: Have you ever seen a Commie drink a glass of water?
Mandrake: Well, I can't say I have.
Ripper: Vodka, that's what they drink, isn't it? Never water?
Mandrake: Well, I-I believe that's what they drink, Jack, yes.
Ripper: On no account will a Commie ever drink water, and not without good reason.
Mandrake: Oh, eh, yes. I, uhm, can't quite see what you're getting at, Jack.
Ripper: Water, that's what I'm getting at, water. Mandrake, water is the source of all life.
How did they collect the samples? (Score:1)
This got to be one in the top ten lousiest jobs ever: mouse sperm gatherer
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Ouch (Score:1)
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Children of Men (Score:3, Interesting)
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Build a Better Mousetrap (Score:2)
Good Title (Score:1)
Besides, 60% could easily be 16 mutations instead of 10.
Uh-oh... (Score:2)
"The mice, reared in cages kept in a shed downwind of two steel mills and a busy highway in a Canadian city, showed a host of genetic changes compared to similarly housed mice breathing filtered air."
"No such research has been done on people in Hamilton Harbour, Canada, where the mouse studies were carried out."
"Canadian researchers found that filtering out particles from polluted air lessened the risk of heritable mutations in mice caged near Hamilton."
"After three weeks of breathing the Hamilton air,
But how? (Score:1)