Ivermectin VS Sperm: 3 Disturbing Studies On Decreased Sperm Counts, Decreased Sperm Motility & Increased % Abnormal Sperm Post-Ivermectin

Bad signs for Ivermectin's effects on male fertility

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Nigeria Study Finds Significant Reduction in Sperm Count, Sperm Motility & Bizarre Sperm Abnormalities Post-Ivermectin

In a study from Nigeria entitled ‘Effects of Ivermectin therapy on the sperm functions of Nigerian onchocerciasis patients’, some very concerning findings were published.

“We observed significant reduction in the sperm counts and sperm motility of the patients tested. On the morphology there was significant increase in the number of abnormal sperm cells. This took the forms of two heads, double tails, white (albino) sperms and extraordinarily large heads. It is suspected that the above alterations in the already determined parameters of the patients’ sperm cells could only
have occurred as a result of their treatment with ivermectin.”

Sperm Count

“There was a significant drop in the sperm counts of the patients after their treatment with ivermectin” write the authors of the study.

Here is a scatter plot of the sperm count before (x axis) and after (y axis) the ivermectin dosing. Points above the line indicate a higher sperm count after the Ivermectin and points below the line indicate a lower sperm count after Ivermectin.

Here is a chart of the sperm counts pre vs post Ivermectin for the 37 trial subjects, sorted by magnitude of sperm count drop (participant ID is noted beneath columns):

Sperm Motility

The paper also states: “There was a significant drop in the sperm counts of the patients after their treatment with ivermectin. There was also a significant reduction in the motility of the cells after the treatment with ivermectin. These reductions were not concurrent, nor were they in proportion to one another.”

Sperm motility is the percentage of sperm that can swim forward. Sperm motility is important because for a sperm cell to successfully fertilize an egg it needs to be able to swim.

Here is a scatter plot of the sperm motility before (x axis) and after (y axis) the ivermectin dosing. Points above the line indicate a higher % sperm motility after the Ivermectin and points below the line indicate a lower % sperm motility after Ivermectin.

Here is a chart of the study data for pre vs post ivermectin sperm motility (Percentage of sperm that move forward) for all 37 subjects sorted with the largest drop in motility first:

Abnormality Of Sperm

“Sperm with abnormal morphology were also found to have increased after ivermectin therapy”

Here is a scatter plot of the % of sperm deemed “abnormal” before (x axis) and after (y axis) the ivermectin dosing. Points above the line indicate a higher % of abnormal sperm after the Ivermectin and points below the line indicate a lower % of abnormal sperm after Ivermectin.

Here is the data for % abnormal sperm for each of the participants before and after their ivermectin, sorted by the largest increase increase in abnormal sperm (participant # is under the columns):

The study also notes: “On the morphology there was significant increase in the number of abnormal sperm cells. This took the forms of two heads, double tails, white (albino) sperms and extraordinarily large heads.”

Motile Count

We can calculate the total motile count of each patient’s sample by multiplying the number of sperm in the sample times the percentage that were swimming properly.

Mouse Study Examining Altered Fertility Post-Ivermectin

In a study called ‘Effect of ivermectin on male fertility and its interaction with P-glycoprotein inhibitor (verapamil) in rats’ by El-Nahas & El-Ashmawy (full report)

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21783912/

While not deemed statistically significant, there is a noticeable drop in average sperm count after ivermectin to 343.3 million sperm per ml compared to the 392.3 million sperm per ml in the No-Ivermectin control group. The Ivermectin group has a 12.5% reduction in sperm concentration

Interestingly, when paired with verapamil, a drug for high blood pressure/ chest pain, there are much more significant deleterious effects in the male fertility metrics. The paper notes this may be because verapamil serves as a Pgp blocker.

“The low ivermectin toxicity has attributed to its restricted access to some tissues, especially for being a substrate of Pgp. Pgp is linked to the integrity of blood–tissue
barriers, such as the blood–brain barrier, testis or placenta and a partial blockade of Pgp could be responsible for a new drug distribution in the organism with possible increases of drug rates in organs behind these barriers. Therefore, concomitant administration of substrates and Pgp inhibitors would modify drug pharmacokinetics by increased bioavailability and organ uptake”

According to various studies (see below screen shot), certain ethnicities are much more prone to a TT MDR1 gene exon 26 C3435T mutation which, according to Hitzl et al:

“Carriers homozygous for this polymorphism (TT) showed more than two-fold lower PGP expression… compared to the CC group”

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17080296/

Does this mean people with a TT mutation (and perhaps CT to a lesser extent) on gene exon 26 C3435T are more prone to Ivermectin toxicity to both their brains & their testis?!

Let’s look at a few more metrics from the Ivermectin rat study:

Here’s a diagram which depicts the sperm life cycle, starting from spermatogonia and proceeding through mitosis and then through 2 stages of meiosis (MI, MII) and finally through spermatogenesis to yield spermatozoa.

Let’s look at the differences in abnormal sperm cells by category by treatment group in this series of 9 charts:

Organ Weights

Vacuolar Degeneration

Check out the paper’s photos of “Vacuolar degeneration” in Ivermectin (1b) VS no-Ivermectin controls (1a):

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21783912/

The paper explains: “In case of treatment with ivermectin, some of the spermatogonial cells in the seminiferous tubules were seen to be affected with vacuolar degeneration" (Figure 1b)”

“The weights of testis, epididymis and accessory sex glands were slightly decreased (P 0.05) in ivermectin-treated group versus control”

Sheep Study Finds Drop In Sperm Motility & Concentration Post-Ivermectin

A Turkish study on Ivermectin’s fertility effects on male sheep by Tanyildizi and Bozkurt also found a stark decrease in sperm motility and concentration after injecting ivermectin (0.2mg/kg) subcutaneously (full report here)

“In this study, the values of sperm motility and concentration were observed to decrease significantly (p<0.01) when compared with the control group.”

Here is a chart of the sperm concentration & sperm volume of the Ivermectin injected sheep vs the levels from the no-Ivermectin control group:

Full: https://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/veterinary/vol26/iss2/26/

Here is my attempt to enhance the increase in the % abnormal sperm of the above chart. The blue line & first data point is the control group: