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Paxil Can Damage Sperm DNA
Thursday, September 25th, 2008A new Paxil study is raising troubling questions about its affects on male fertility. According to research conducted by scientists at Cornell Medical Center in New York, men who take Paxil for as little as four weeks sustained damage to the DNA in their sperm.
The same Cornell researchers who worked on this Paxil study had voiced similar concerns in 2006, after finding that two men had developed low counts of healthy sperm following treatment with two different SSRIs. SSRIs like Paxil and Prozac are the most commonly prescribed class of antidepressant.
This study involved 35 men who provided sperm samples before and during Paxil treatment. The researchers performed tests on the sperm to detect “DNA fragmentation”. Studies of couples undergoing IVF have found that when a man’s sperm has higher levels of DNA damage, fewer embryos are produced. Those embryos that are produced are less likely to implant successfully in the womb.
According to the Cornell scientists, prior to Paxil treatment, 13.8 percent of sperm cells were found to be fragmented. After taking Paxil for four weeks, that number had risen to 30.3 percent.
“We suspect the other SSRIs would have similar effects,” Peter Schlegel, chairman of the urology department at the university’s Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, told Bloomberg.com.
