Trial reportAndrology2017
Isotretinoin administration improves sperm production in men with infertility from oligoasthenozoospermia: a pilot study.
Trial report in Andrology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of retinoic acid in the journey of spermatogonium to spermatozoa: From basic to clinical application.F1000Research · 2022Pooled it
- Does In Vitro Cytochrome P450 Downregulation Translate to In Vivo Drug-Drug Interactions? Preclinical and Clinical Studies With 13-cis-Retinoic Acid.Clinical and translational science · 2019Trial
- Reviewing the Implication of Aldehyde Dehydrogenases in Male Reproduction: Prospects for New Therapeutic Approaches.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Differential retinoic acid responses across testicular developmentbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Spontaneous Pregnancy After Isotretinoin Use in a Man After Unsuccessful Microdissection Testicular Sperm Extraction.Cureus · 2025Article
- Treatment with isotretinoin can improve de novo sperm production in nonobstructive azoospermia or cryptozoospermia.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2025Article
- Pharmacological Effects and Immune Mechanisms of Oriental Medicines in Restoring Male Infertility.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- The protective effects of active ingredients from acrorus tatarinowii on sperm and their molecular mechanisms.Basic and clinical andrology · 2025Article
- The interplay between retinoic acid binding proteins and retinoic acid degrading enzymes in modulating retinoic acid concentrations.Current topics in developmental biology · 2025Review
- Development and Validation of the Isotretinoin Hesitancy Scale for Acne Vulgaris: A Preliminary Study.Journal of cosmetic dermatology · 2024Article
- Review
- Effect of systemic isotretinoin therapy on semen parameters.Annals of medicine · 2023Article
- Differential responsiveness of spermatogonia to retinoic acid dictates precocious differentiation but not meiotic entry during steady-state spermatogenesis†.Biology of reproduction · 2023Article
- Retinoic acid can improve autophagy through depression of the PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway via RARα to restore spermatogenesis in cryptorchid infertile rats.Genes & diseases · 2022Article
- Isotretinoin and its Metabolites Alter mRNA of Multiple Enzyme and Transporter Genes In Vitro, but Downregulation of Organic Anion Transporting Polypeptide Does Not Translate to the Clinic.Drug metabolism and disposition: the biological fate of chemicals · 2022Article
- Review
- MRP5 and MRP9 play a concerted role in male reproduction and mitochondrial function.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Network pharmacology integrated molecular docking reveals the bioactive components and potential targets of Morinda officinalis-Lycium barbarum coupled-herbs against oligoasthenozoospermia.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- An Integrated Analysis of Network Pharmacology, Molecular Docking, and Experiment Validation to Explore the New Candidate Active Component and Mechanism ofDrug design, development and therapy · 2021Article
- Nonsurgical Management of Oligozoospermia.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
There is currently no effective medical therapy for men with infertility due to oligoasthenozoospermia. As men with abnormal sperm production have lower concentrations of 13-cis-retinoic acid in their testes, we hypothesized that men with infertility from oligoasthenozoospermia might have improved sperm counts when treated with isotretinoin (13-cis-retinoic acid). We conducted a single-site, single-arm, pilot study to determine the effect of therapy with isotretinoin on sperm indices in 19 infertile men with oligoasthenozoospermia. Subjects were men between 21 and 60 years of age with infertility for longer than 12 months associated with sperm concentrations below 15 million sperm/mL. All men received isotretinoin 20 mg by mouth twice daily for 20 weeks. Subjects had semen analyses, physical examinations, and laboratory tests every 4 weeks during treatment. Nineteen men enrolled in the study. Median (25th, 75th) sperm concentration increased from 2.5 (0.1, 5.9) million/mL at baseline to 3.8 (2.1, 13.0) million/mL at the end of treatment (p = 0.006). No significant changes in sperm motility were observed. There was a trend toward improved sperm morphology (p = 0.056). Six pregnancies (three spontaneous and three from intracytoplasmic sperm injection) and five births occurred during the study. Four of the births, including all three of the spontaneous pregnancies, were observed in men with improvements in sperm counts with isotretinoin therapy. Treatment was well tolerated. Isotretinoin therapy improves sperm production in some men with oligoasthenozoospermia. Additional studies of isotretinoin in men with infertility from oligoasthenozoospermia are warranted.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.