From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia.
Anabolic steroids are a
class of natural and synthetic
steroid hormones that promote
cell growth and division,
resulting in growth of muscle
tissue and sometimes bone size and
strength. Steroids act in
different ways on the body to
promote muscle growth, and every
steroid has
androgenic and
anabolic properties. It is
because of this, they are properly
referred to in medical texts as
AAS (anabolic/androgenic
steroids).Testosterone
is the best known natural anabolic
steroid, as well as the best known
natural
androgen.
Effects
Steroids produce both
anabolic and
virilization effects. Most
anabolic steroids work in two
simultaneous ways. First, by
binding the
androgen receptors and
increasing
protein synthesis. Secondly,
they also reduce recovery time by
blocking the effects of the stress
hormone,
cortisol, on muscle tissue. As
a result,
catabolism of the body's
muscle mass is greatly reduced.
Examples of anabolic effects:
Examples of virilizing effects:
Many androgens are metabolized
to estrogenic compounds which bind
estrogen receptors, producing
additional (usually) unwanted
effects:
Other side effects (some the
opposite of intended effects)
include elevated
blood pressure and
cholesterol levels, severe
acne, reduced
sexual function,
testicular atrophy, and
conversion to
DHT (Dihydrotestosterone)
resulting in premature
baldness. In males, abnormal
breast development (gynecomastia)
can occur. In females, anabolic
steroids have a virilizing effect,
resulting in a permenant increase
in body hair, permanent deepening
of the voice, a permanently
enlarged
clitoris (clitoral
hypertrophy), and fewer
menstrual cycles. In
adolescents, abuse of these agents
may prematurely stop the
lengthening of
bones (premature epiphyseal
fusion through increased
estrogen), resulting in
stunted growth. Serious
medical
illness can result from
extreme hormone use. Enlargement
of the heart (the
heart is a
muscle and thus affected by
the muscle-building qualities of
the hormones) is a risk which
increases the chance of an adverse
cardiac event occurring in later
life. Heavy steroid use can affect
hormone-senstitive tissue and
organs, in particular, the
prostate, causing increases of
prostate cancer in heavy
users. Another long-term health
risk is
liver damage, particularly
with oral anabolic steroid
compounds which are
17-alpha-alkylated in order to not
be destroyed by the digestive
system.
An ideal anabolic steroid (a
hormone with purely anabolic
effects and no virilizing or other
side effects) has been widely
sought. Many synthetic anabolic
steroids have been developed in an
attempt to find molecules that
produced a higher degree of
anabolic rather than virilizing
effects. Unfortunately, the most
effective steroids known for
increasing lean body mass also
have the strongest
androgenic characteristics.
Medical uses
Anabolic steroids were tried by
physicians for many purposes in
the
1940s and
1950s with varying success.
Disadvantages outweighed benefits
for most purposes, and in recent
decades medical use in North
America and Europe has been
restricted to a few conditions.
- Bone marrow stimulation: For
decades, anabolic steroids were
the mainstay of therapy for
hypoplastic
anemias not due to nutrient
deficiency, especially
aplastic anemia. Anabolic
steroids are slowly being
replaced by synthetic protein
hormones that selectively
stimulate growth of blood cell
precursors.
-
Growth stimulation: Anabolic
steroids were used heavily by
pediatric endocrinologists
for children with
growth failure from the
1960s through the
1980s. Availability of
synthetic
growth hormone and
increasing social stigmatization
of anabolic steroids led to
discontinuation of this use.
- Stimulation of
appetite and preservation of
muscle mass: Anabolic
steroids have been given to
people with chronic wasting
conditions such as
cancer and
AIDS.
- Induction of male
puberty: Androgens are given
to many boys distressed about
extreme
delay of puberty.
Testosterone is now nearly the
only androgen used for this
purpose but synthetic anabolic
steroids were often used prior
to the 1980s.
Anabolic steroids have been
marketed to doctors for
stimulation of children's appetite
in developing countries, long
after developed countries have
abandoned this practice because of
side effects.
Use and abuse in athletics and
bodybuilding
These drugs are used by
track and field athletes,
weight lifters,
bodybuilders,
shot putters,
cyclists, professional
baseball players,
professional wrestlers, police
officers and others to give them a
competitive advantage, and improve
their physical appearance or to
allow them to better compete with
others who have a physical
advantage, perhaps from a more
fortunate natural endowment of
endogenous steroids or from
steroid use as well. Steroid use
to obtain competitive advantage is
prohibited by the rules of the
governing bodies of many sports,
and officially condoned by none.
According to the 1999
Monitoring the Future study, the
percentage of eighth, tenth, and
twelfth graders in the United
States who reported using steroids
at least once in their lives
increased steadily over the
preceding four years (an average
of 1.8 percent in 1996, 2.1
percent in 1997, 2.3 percent in
1998, and 2.8 percent in 1999). In
addition, steroid use to enhance
athletic performance is no longer
limited to high school males: a
1998
Pennsylvania State University
study found that 175,000 high
school girls nationwide reported
taking steroids at least once in
their lifetime.
Minimizing the side-effects
Typically, bodybuilders,
athletes and sportsmen who use
anabolics steroids try to minimize
the negative side-effects. For
example, increasing the amount of
cardiovascular exercise to help
negate the effects of left
ventricle hypertrophy.
Some androgens will aromatise
and convert to
estrogen, potentially causing
some combination of the side
effects listed above. During a
steroid cycle users may take
an
aromatase inhibitor and/or a
SERM; these drugs affect
aromatisation and estrogen
receptor binding respectively. The
SERM tamoxifen, is of particular
interest as it prevents binding to
the estrogen recpetor in the
breast, reducing the risk of
irreversible gynecomastia.
Furthermore, to combat the
natural testosterone suppression
and to restore proper
HPTA function, what is known
as 'post cycle therapy' (PCT) is
self prescribed. PCT takes place
after the course of anabolic
steroids. It typically consists of
a combination of the following
drugs depending on which protocol
is used:
The aim of PCT is to return the
bodies' endogenous hormonal
balance to its original state
within the shortest space of time.
Those prone to premature
hairloss due to steroid use have
been known to take the
prescription drug finasteride for
prolonged periods of time.
Finasteride reduces the conversion
of
testosterone to
DHT, the latter having much
higher potency for
alopecia. Finasteride is
useless in the cases when steroid
is not converted into a more
androgenic dehydroderivative.
History
Anabolic steroids are believed
to have been inadvertently
discovered by German scientists in
the early
1930s, but at the time the
discovery was not considered
significant enough to warrant
further study. The first known
reference to an anabolic steroid
in a US weightlifting/bodybuilding
magazine is testosterone propinate
in a letter to the editor in
Strength and Health magazine in
1938. In the
1950s, scientific interest was
rekindled, and methandrostenolone
(Dianabol) was approved for use in
the
United States by the federal
Food and Drug Administration
in 1958 after promising trials had
been conducted in other countries.
By the early 1990s several
pharmaceutical companies stopped
manufacturing or marketing the
products in the United States,
including Ciba, Searle, Syntex and
others.
In addition, an entire market
for counterfeit drugs emerged at
this time. Never seen in the
previous 30 years of their
availability on the U.S. market,
computers and scanning technology
made the ease of counterfeiting
legitimate products by utilizing
their original label design, and
the market was flooded with
products that contained everything
from mere vegetable oil to toxic
substances which unsuspecting
users injected into themselves, of
which some died as a result of
blood poisoning, methanol
poisoning or subcutaneous abcess.
Concerns over the growing
illicit market and the prevalence
of abuse, combined with the
possibility of harmful longterm
effects of steroid use, led the
U.S. Congress in 1991 to place
anabolic steroids into Schedule
III of the
Controlled Substances Act
(CSA). The CSA defines anabolic
steroids as any drug or hormonal
substance chemically and
pharmacologically related to
testosterone (other than
estrogens,
progestins, and
corticosteroids) that promotes
muscle growth. Most illicit
anabolic steroids are sold at
gyms, competitions, and through
the mail. For the most part, these
substances are smuggled into the
United States. In addition, a
number of counterfeit products are
sold as anabolic steroids.
On
January 20,
2005, the Anabolic Steroid
Control Act of 2004 took effect,
amending the
Controlled Substance Act to
place both anabolic steroids and
prohormones on a list of
controlled substances, making
possession of the banned
substances a federal crime.
List of Anabolic Compounds
Commonly used as Ergogenic Aids
NB: many of these products are
no longer available from the
original manufacturer and are now
manufactured by "underground"
laboratories in the
United States,
Mexico, and
Canada, but are still widely
available in certain countries, in
most cases from a subsidiary of
the original manufacturer (e.g.
Schering, Organon).
