Occupational cadmium exposure and testicular endocrine function.

Cadmium is known to cause testicular necrosis in several animal species, although there is little data on its possible effects in humans. We have investigated the effect of occupational cadmium exposure on the pituitary-testicular endocrine axis, as measured by serum testosterone, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicular-stimulating hormone (FSH), in a well-characterized population occupationally exposed to cadmium. Over 60% of all workers, who had been exposed to cadmium oxide fumes for longer than a year, in a single factory, since 1926, were studied. Integrated cadmium exposure estimates were constructed for each subject from atmospheric measurements, together with other available company data, and these exposure estimates were validated by in-vivo neutron activation analyses of liver cadmium burdens. The lack of testicular endocrine effects was in contrast to significant dose-related changes in renal glomerular and tubular function demonstrated in the same population.