Role of nandrolone decanoate administration on testosterone biosynthesis: an in vitro and in vivo study

Abstract

Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are a class of sbustances analogus to the male sexual hormones. AAS are very commonly used by professional athletes to improve performance, fraudulently, and increasingly also by non-professionals for purely aesthetic purposes. Among the AAS, nandrolone decanoate (ND) is the best known and widely used. The aim of this PhD thesis is to study the effects of supraphysiological administration of ND on two experimental models. The part in vitro, carried out on a line of tumor Leydig cells of Rattus norvegicus the R2C; It was designed to investigate the effects on testosterone production by these cells and how the ND alter the pathway of this hormone. The second part was conducted on a mouse model (Mus musculus CD1) trained according to an exercise program that mimic endurance training. In the in vivo were observed, parallel to the first part, the production of testosterone and biosynthetic pathway, but it was also carried out a morphological and functional study to assess the structural damage to the testicles and in particular the blood-testis barrier.