Anabolic–androgenic steroid effects on nociception and morphine antinociception in male rats

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of acute and chronic administration of anabolic–androgenic steroids (AAS) on nociception and morphine antinociception in acute pain models, as well as on chronic inflammatory nociception. In Experiment 1, adult, gonadally intact male rats were injected s.c. for 28days with either 5mg/kg testosterone (T), dihydrotestosterone (DHT), stanozolol (STAN), or safflower oil vehicle (N=12–25/group). On day 28, rats in each group were tested on acute thermal and mechanical nociceptive assays, before and after morphine treatment. In Experiment 2, rats in each group (N=8–10/group) were injected with mineral oil or complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) into one hindpaw after 28days of AAS treatment, and then tested for thermal hyperalgesia, mechanical allodynia, inflammation and locomotor suppression intermittently for 28days. Experiment 3 replicated nociceptive measurements in Experiments 1 and 2, but with a single AAS or vehicle injection occurring 3h prior to testing (N=10–12/group). While chronic AAS administration tended to decrease body weight gain and alter reproductive organ weights in the expected manner, it did not significantly alter acute nociception nor attenuate the development of various chronic pain indices after CFA administration. Morphine antinociceptive potency was significantly decreased by chronic DHT on the hotplate test only. Acute AAS administration also did not significantly alter acute or chronic nociception, or morphine antinociceptive potency. Comparisons between acute and chronic AAS administration suggest that steroid tolerance did not occur in rats treated with AAS chronically. Taken together, these data do not support the hypothesis that AAS exposure alters nociception or morphine antinociception in gonadally intact males.