Study hints that antidepressants could help slow reproductive aging

In a new study, Northwestern University researchers exposed roundworms (a well-established model organism in biological research) to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a class of drugs used for treating depression and anxiety. To the surprise of the researchers, this treatment improved the quality of aging females’ egg cells. Exposure to SSRIs decrease embryonic death by more than twofold and decreased chromosomal abnormalities in surviving offspring by more than twofold. Under the microscope, egg cells also looked younger and healthier, showing fewer signs of aging.

The researchers then replicated the experiment in fruit flies (another common model organism) and yielded the same results.

Although more research is needed, those who led the study say these findings provide new opportunities to explore pharmacological interventions that might combat infertility issues in humans by improving egg quality and by delaying the onset of reproductive aging.

“There is still a great distance between this new finding and the fertility clinic,” said Northwestern’s Ilya Ruvinsky, who led the study. “But the more we study the reproductive system, the better we understand it and the more opportunities we have for developing practical interventions.”

The study was published on Monday (May 8) in the journal Developmental Biology. An early version of the paper is available here.

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