Abstract

Objectives: Abuse of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) has increased. Previous studies have shown that resistance training (RT) is the main exercise modality practiced by AAS abusers and people often use them in different training situations. Thus propose of this study was to evaluate the hepatotoxic effects of sustanon (Su) as an example of anabolic androgenic steroids in male rats with and without RT experience.
Methods: Rats were divided into seven groups: control; Su - untreated sedentary rats (non-Su/ Sed); Su - treated sedentary rats (Su/Sed); Su - untreated trained rats (non-Su/Tr); Su - treated trained rats (Su/Tr); Su - untreated experience trained rats (non-Su/XTr); Su - treated experience trained rats (Su/XTr). Su - treated groups received sustanon 10 mg/kg intramuscularly once a week for 8 weeks. In the Tr and XTr groups, the animals climbed a 1.1 m vertical ladder, 3 days per week for 8 and 12 week, respectively.
Results: After Su - treatment, the mean values of serum parameters related to hepatic function were within normal ranges. Superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and glutathione reductase (GR) activities were higher (P<0.05) in the liver of Su treatment groups. Tr and XTr did not change any of the above parameters.
Conclusion: The present findings suggest that the injection of Su during 8 weeks, either with or without RT up-regulation of enzymatic antioxidant activities. Moreover, these data demonstrated that liver function tests do not always reflect liver abnormalities particularly at the initial stages.

Keywords: Anabolic androgenic steroids; Antioxidant; Liver