Relationship between serum dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls and post-testicular maturation in human sperm

•Serum DL-PCB concentrations were higher in the low quality semen group.•Individual DL-PCB congeners as 77, 81,123, 126,169,118 and 189, could be implicated in the alterations of male fertility.•In adult men, serum dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls concentrations may have adverse effects on semen quality.•Dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls seem to act during spermiogenesis and/or epididymal maturation, in adulthood. The relationship between dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyl (DL˗PCB) levels in serum and semen parameters were investigated. Our case-control included two groups of patients. Total concentrations of PCBs were significantly higher in the low semen quality (n=24) than in the normal semen quality (n=26) group. A significant negative correlation was found between PCB 126 and viability in men with low semen quality, while PCBs 77 and 81 were positively correlated with morphology, and PCB 118, mono-ortho and total DL-PCBs were positively correlated with volume. In the normal semen quality group, PCB 189 and 118 were negatively correlated with sperm motility and volume, respectively. In addition, positive significant correlations were found between PCB 77, 23 and total non-ortho PCBs with regard to morphology. Our findings suggest that sperm motility, viability, volume and morphology are parameters sensitive to alteration by exposure to DL-PCBs, although PCB effects on spermatogenesis were not of clinical significance.