Hormonal mechanism and pathogenetic therapy of citalopram-induced infertility in female rats

Citalopram is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and has been associated with reproductive dysfunction in women. In this study, the effects of citalopram on reproductive health in female rats were investigated. Albino Wistar rats was divided into six groups (each group/n = 12): healthy (HG), citalopram (CTP), cabergoline (CBR), metyrapone (MTP), cabergoline+citalopram (CBR+CTP), and metyrapone+citalopram (MTP+CTP). Initially, cabergoline 0.1 mg/kg and metyrapone 50 mg/kg were administered orally. A dose of 10 mg/kg of citalopram was given orally one hour later. For 30 days, the treatment protocol was applied once a day. Then, blood samples were taken from the tail veins of six rats from each group for prolactin and corticosterone analyses and ovaries were removed after euthanasia. The ovaries were examined for oxidants and antioxidants and histopathologically. During two months, the remaining animals were kept with male rats. The rats that did not deliver during this period were considered infertile. In terms of oxidants and antioxidants, there was no significant difference between the groups (p > 0.05). In half of the female rats, citalopram caused infertility, increased levels of prolactin and corticosterone, and damaged the ovaries histopathologically (p < 0.05). Cabergoline suppressed the elevation of prolactin by citalopram (p < 0.001) but did not prevent infertility. In contrast, metyrapone significantly prevented the citalopram-induced increase in corticosterone, infertility, and tissue damage induced by citalopram (p < 0.05). According to the results of our study, the preventive effect of drugs that suppress excessive corticosterone on citalopram-induced infertility in rats may be encouraging for further clinical studies. © 2025 Elsevier Inc.