Effects of illicit drugs on structural and functional impairment of testis, endocrinal disorders, and molecular alterations of the semen
نویسندگان
1 Department of Biomedicine, Neurosciences and Advanced Diagnostic, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
2 Department of Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran
3 Department of Neuroscience and Addiction Studies, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
4 Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
5 Students Research Committee, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
6 Legal Medicine Research Center, Legal Medicine Organization, Tehran, Iran
doi
10.22038/ijbms.2021.53326.12002چکیده
Illicit drug use is growing among young people, which is one of the major problems in today’s society that can be associated with many medical issues, including infertility. Amphetamines, cocaine, opioids, and marijuana are the most common and the most used illicit drugs worldwide. The purpose of this review was to collect as much literature as possible about the impact of illicit drugs on male fertility and summarize their valuable data. Original studies and reviews were collected by searching the keywords “illicit drugs (all kinds of that) and male infertility”. The obtained information was also categorized based on the content of the “Infertility in the Male” book. Almost all studies suggested that taking all kinds of illicit drugs with the effects on different parts of the male reproductive system can result in subfertility or complete infertility in the consumers. Although the data in this field are not decisive and there are some confounding factors in human studies, it can be inferred that the use of any illicit drug with an effect on male sexual health reduces fertility potency. Therefore, it is recommended that couples, who are planning to conceive, avoid taking any illicit drugs before and during treatment.
