Infrasound-induced Bioeffects, Underlying Mechanisms And Protective Strategy On Male Reproduction Of Rats

Infrasound (0.0001-20Hz) is acoustic energy with characters of little attenuation and long distance during radiation, inaudibility, diffraction and resonance in some parameters. Infrasound exposure is ubiquitous in modern life, which is generated by natural sources such as earthquakes, gale, water falls and volcanos; means of transportation such as trucks, aircraft, watercraft, and rail traffic; numerous industrial sources such as heavy machinery, air compressors, air heating and cooling equipment; household appliances such as washing machines and air-condition; and military sources such as fighters, tanks, panzers and rockets. Because infrasound has been an important component of noise pollution and some cuntries such as U.S., Russia and British have developed infrasonic non-lethal weapons, infrasound has drawn more and more interest on infrasonic bioeffects. Obviously, bioeffects of infrasound on reproductive system has been an important topic which should be investigated in detail, but few study involves in this field. In this paper, we observed some bioeffects of infrasound on male reproduction by animal experiment, which will provide basis for protection against infrasound.Objective: To observe changes of sexual behaviors, fertility, sex hormones and antioxidation system induced by infrasound exposure and the natural recovery; to inspect underlying mechanisms and investigate protection effect of minocycline at different dose.Methods: Adult male rats were exposed to infrasound of 8Hz at 90dB or...