Chemical and cytotoxicity evaluation of apprehended formulations of anabolic androgenic steroids

Abstract

Apprehensions of formulations of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AASs) have been significantly increasing worldwide. It is known that the consumption of synthetic steroids can lead to several side effects including liver damage, heart failure and psychological disorders. Nonetheless, there are few studies evaluating the toxicity of anabolic agents’ formulations. In this sense, the aims of this work were to determine the chemical profile of AASs apprehended in Brazil by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry as well as to determine their cytotoxicity by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Results showed that most formulations had their constitution adulterated or falsified by the lack of active ingredients. By the colorimetric MTT assay, it could be observed that most anabolic agents had cytotoxicity in concentrations of 0.5 mg mL−1 in a general dose-dependent manner. Product #3 can be cited as displaying minimum cell viability (5.67 ± 0.25%) at 0.5 mg mL−1 increasing to 91.82 ± 4.78% at 0.125 mg mL−1. Therefore, in this study, apprehended formulations of AASs were mostly counterfeit materials with in vitro cytotoxicity, which shows the importance of analyzing these materials and indicating the adverse effects they pose to human health.