Tadalafil May Boost Muscle Repair Beyond Erectile Dysfunction

Many people cannot exercise regularly because of time constraints or health problems, so researchers look for drugs that mimic exercise benefits. Scientists at the University of Rome Foro Italico studied the erectile‑dysfunction drug tadalafil for this purpose. They reported their findings in the journal Molecular Biology Reports.

The researchers used mouse muscle precursor cells in the lab and found that tadalafil increased the number of myoblasts, the cells that can become muscle. The drug also lowered the amount of dead cells, indicating better survival. This effect is linked to tadalafil’s ability to block the enzyme PDE5, which normally stops the cGMP signal that promotes muscle repair.

When the scientists scratched the cell layer to mimic injury, the wound closed faster with tadalafil. Cell death was also lower at all time points. These results suggest that the drug helps muscle cells keep dividing and survive after damage.

Implications for therapy and sport

Interesting twist: after a week of observation, cells treated with tadalafil were less likely to mature into full muscle fibers. The researchers think this keeps a larger pool of muscle stem cells ready for future repair. More studies in living animals are needed to see how this affects actual muscle growth.