Melatonin Administration Alters Semen Quality in Healthy Men

ABSTRACT The role of melatonin in the regulation of reproduction in humans is unknown. We conducted a 6‐month, double‐blind, cross‐over study of a daily treatment dose of 3 mg melatonin or placebo given orally at 1700 hours in 8 healthy men. Semen quality (concentration, motility, and morphology), s...

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Published in:Journal of andrology 2002-07, Vol.23 (4), p.572-578
Main Authors: LUBOSHITZKY, RAFAEL, SHEN‐ORR, ZILLA, NAVE, RACHEL, LAVI, SCHAHAR, LAVIE, PERETZ
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Double-Blind Method
Drug toxicity and drugs side effects treatment
Estradiol
Estradiol - blood
Follicle Stimulating Hormone - blood
Humans
Luteinizing Hormone - blood
Male
Medical sciences
Melatonin - pharmacology
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Semen - drug effects
seminal plasma
sperm analysis
Sperm Count
Spermatozoa - drug effects
testosterone
Testosterone - blood
Toxicity: urogenital system
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Summary:ABSTRACT The role of melatonin in the regulation of reproduction in humans is unknown. We conducted a 6‐month, double‐blind, cross‐over study of a daily treatment dose of 3 mg melatonin or placebo given orally at 1700 hours in 8 healthy men. Semen quality (concentration, motility, and morphology), serum and seminal plasma 17‐β‐estradiol (E2), testosterone, melatonin, and serum gonadotropin levels were determined every 3 months throughout the study. In 6 men, there was no change in semen quality or in serum and seminal plasma hormone levels during the study period. In 2 men, during the melatonin treatment period, sperm concentration decreased to 3 × 106/mL and 12 × 106/mL, and motility declined to 32% and 30%. These coincided with a decline in seminal plasma and serum E2 levels and with an increase in testosterone: E2 ratios. Six months after the cessation of melatonin, sperm concentration and motility were normal in 1 man but remained abnormal in the other one with a still elevated testosterone: E2 ratio. Serum gonadotropin levels were unchanged during the study in all 8 men. Our preliminary observations suggest that long‐term melatonin administration is associated with decreased semen quality in a number of healthy men, probably through the inhibition of aromatase at the testicular level.
ISSN:0196-3635
1939-4640
DOI:10.1002/j.1939-4640.2002.tb02281.x