Background: Fluoxetine, has the highest prescription rate in treating depressive disorders due to its effectiveness and safety. However, this drug can cause oxidative stress and hence affect cell viability. Considering that many men who are at the repro- ductive age often use this drug for a long period of time, it is necessary to investigate its effect on sperm cells in vitro. Materials and Methods: Semen samples of 30 fertile men were collected. Each sample was divided into three groups: fresh, control (without treatment and 1 hour incubation) and fluoxetine (treated with 5 µM fluoxetine and 1 hour incuba- tion). Then the samples were evaluated in terms of sperm pa- rameters (progressive, non-progressive motility, total motility, morphology and viability) and sperm DNA fragmentation and reactive oxygen species (ROS). Data were statistically analyzed using repeated measures analysis. Results: The total and progressive motility, viability and nor- mal morphology of sperm showed a significant decrease in the fluoxetine group compared to the fresh and control groups (P˂0.001). while, a significant increase in the mean percentage of nonprogressive motility, DNA fragmentation and ROS was observed in the fluoxetine group compared to the fresh and con- trol groups (P˂0.001). Conclusion: Our study showed that fluoxetine, leads to a de- crease in total and progressive motility, viability, normal mor- phology and an increase in nonprogressive motility and sperm DNA fragmentation through increasing ROS.
