Girls and boys see their fertility disrupted by exposure to paracetamol when they are in the womb. A study on the rat has just demonstrated it.
Better to have a pregnancy without medication. After certain antidepressants, it is the turn of paracetamol to be placed in the hot seat. Analgesic the most sold in France would have long-term effects on the reproduction of exposed babies in utero. This is what a rat study published in Scientific Reports. The damage is observed on children and small children of exposed animals.
Three groups of pregnant rodents received two types of drugs or a placebo for 4 days. The molecules tested were paracetamol and indomethacin, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug available on prescription – but formally contraindicated after the 6e month of pregnancy.
Over two generations
Female pups whose mothers have been exposed to one or other of the painkillers have fertility problems, the team from Edinburgh (United Kingdom) concludes. The number of eggs is reduced, the ovaries are smaller and the litters are fewer. Likewise, male offspring have fewer cells that allow the creation of sperm. But this function returns to normal when the animals reach adulthood, which is not the case in females. On the other hand, two generations are affected by these disturbances.
These results support a study published in January in Toxicological Sciences. The authors observed fewer cells responsible for gonadal production and fewer follicles in exposed females in utero with paracetamol. But effects also occur in males: two studies have shown an increased risk of cryptorchidism, a malformation manifested by the absence of one or two testicles in the scrotum.
Inhibition of key functions
This phenomenon is explained by the fact that paracetamol, like indomethacin, inhibits prostaglandins. They are involved in the regulation of female reproduction by controlling ovulation, the menstrual cycle and the onset of labor. Their underproduction, in the fetus, could disrupt the development of germ cells that allow the formation of eggs and sperm.
These results are significant because the rat reproductive system is quite similar to that of humans. But since the rate of development of a human fetus is slower, it will be difficult to extrapolate these conclusions.
It is important to note that this study was conducted in rats, not humans; however, there are similarities between the two reproductive systems, explains Prof. Richard Sharpe, co-author of the study. We now need to understand how these drugs affect the development of the baby’s reproductive system in the womb, in order to understand their full effect. “
As it stands, the Scots still suggest limiting as much as possible the consumption of painkillers during pregnancy – in dose and duration of exposure. But in France, paracetamol is not contraindicated.
.
