Researchers in Italy have discovered a potential association between the common erectile dysfunction drug Cialis (tadalafil) and muscle regeneration.
The study, published in the journal Molecular Biology Reports, tested the drug on mouse muscle cells in a laboratory.
Over a seven-day period, the researchers looked at how the drug affected muscle cell growth, survival and development.
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Tadalafil was found to increase the number of muscle precursor cells, which are involved in the early stages of muscle formation, and helped more of them survive.
The drug also showed signs of helping muscles repair themselves by encouraging growth and reducing cell death.
Despite these positive outcomes, the research found that tadalafil delayed the development of fully mature muscle cells.
This suggests that the drug could create and maintain more cells involved in muscle regeneration but does not indicate an increase in muscle size and function in humans.
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Because the study was conducted in mouse models, the results may differ when applied to humans, posing a limitation to the study findings.
The study lasted just seven days, so more research is needed to understand the drug's long-term effects, the researchers acknowledged.
Study co-author Dr. Cristina Antinozzi, a researcher in the Endocrinology Unit at the University of Rome Foro Italico, said these findings represent an "encouraging look at how tadalafil might be repurposed to support muscle tissue repair and regeneration."
"While more work is needed, this research opens up exciting new possibilities for future therapeutic strategies in muscle recovery, though it also highlights the need to monitor how such mechanisms might be viewed or misused in sports and performance contexts," she told Fox News Digital.
Dr. Kien Vuu, a radiologist and founder of VuuMD Performance and Longevity in Los Angeles, who was not involved in the study, agreed that this is an "intriguing early finding."
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"In mouse muscle cells studied in a laboratory, tadalafil - the active ingredient in Cialis - helped muscle precursor cells grow and survive, but also delayed their maturation into muscle fibers," he told Fox News Digital.
"That's a fascinating biological signal, but it's far from proving that Cialis builds muscle or improves recovery in people.
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"Successful regeneration ultimately requires those cells to mature and form functional muscle tissue. This experiment didn't establish that outcome."
Vuu said this is "worth studying" from a longevity perspective because age-related muscle loss contributes "significantly" to frailty, metabolic dysfunction and loss of independence.
"However, this was a laboratory cell study, not a clinical trial," he said. "We need animal studies and eventually human trials examining actual muscle mass, strength, physical function and safety before drawing conclusions about clinical use."
Lifestyle practices such as resistance training, adequate protein and quality sleep remain the "most reliable ways" to protect muscle with age, Vuu added.
The expert noted that tadalafil also carries "meaningful risks," including dangerous blood pressure reductions when combined with nitrates.
"So, people should not take it for muscle-building based on these findings," he said.
