A new study has revealed that ACCUTANE – a drug used for decades to treat severe acne – may also serve to restore sperm production in infertile men.
A study, recently in the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Geneticsrevealed that the isotretinoinbetter known as Accutane, can help men with infertility to produce mobile sperm and prevent invasive sperm collection surgery.
In this study, the Accutane He encouraged sperm production in some men who at first had or had or had very few sperm when they eited.
But how can a skin medicine help men produce sperm?
As a note, previous studies have found that infertile men often have lower levels of retinoic acid within their testicles. This molecule, a vitamin A derivative, is essential for the normal development of sperm cells. It controls the development of immature germ cells in ripe sperm and facilitates the release of ripe sperm to seminiferous tubules within the testicles.
This connection led scientists to test isotretinoin – a compound that mimics natural retinoic acid – as a potential way to boost sperm production.
In this study, they were tested 26 men with azoospermia non -obstructive – a condition in which there is no sperm in ejaculation due to a production problem – and 4 men with cryptozoospermiawhere extremely low sperm numbers are present in the ejaculate.
All participants took 20 milligrams of isotretinoin twice a day for at least six months. Its blood values, hormone levels and semen were closely monitored at various times during the study.
Of the 30 men in the study, 11 began to produce mobile sperm – sperm that swim efficiently – in ejaculation. This allowed these men and their partners starting IVF without the need for surgical sperm collection.
This group with response to treatment included the four men with cryptozoospermia and seven men who previously had no sperm in ejaculation.
For the other men who had no sperm in the ejaculate after treatment, doctors had to resort to surgery to collect sperm for IVF. But After isotretinoin, the procedure took much less time – 63 minutes on average compared to 105 minutes before treatment.
“The idea that a well -studied medicine can stimulate spermatogenesis [produção de esperma] In men with severely compromised sperm production is exciting because it opens the door to a non -surgical option for men who could otherwise need invasive testicular sperm collection, ”he praised, Live Science, Justin HoumanAssistant Professor of Urology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, who was not involved in the study.
However, the expert warned that until data from larger studies are available, the isotretinoin should not be used to treat infertility male out of clinical trials.
“The study is small, preliminary, and requires replication in larger randomized tests before we can consider it a real advance,” he warned.
