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. 2019 Aug 27;55(9):540.
doi: 10.3390/medicina55090540.

Lipid Profile Changes Induced by Chronic Administration of Anabolic Androgenic Steroids and Taurine in Rats

A E Rosca  1   2 , Camelia Sorina Stancu  3 , Corin Badiu  4 , Bogdan Ovidiu Popescu  5 , Radu Mirica  6 , Constantin Căruntu  6   7 , Serban Gologan  8 , Suzana Elena Voiculescu  6 , Ana-Maria Zagrean  6
Affiliations

Lipid Profile Changes Induced by Chronic Administration of Anabolic Androgenic Steroids and Taurine in Rats

A E Rosca et al. Medicina (Kaunas). .

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS), used as a therapy in various diseases and abused in sports, are atherogenic in supraphysiological administration, altering the plasma lipid profile. Taurine, a conditionally-essential amino acid often used in dietary supplements, was acknowledged to delay the onset and progression of atherogenesis, and to mitigate hyperlipidemia. The aim of the present study was to verify if taurine could prevent the alterations induced by concomitant chronic administration of high doses of AAS nandrolone decanoate (DECA) in rats. Materials and Methods: Thirty-two male Wistar rats, assigned to 4 equal groups, were treated for 12 weeks either with DECA (A group), taurine (T group), both DECA and taurine (AT group) or vehicle (C group). Plasma triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), hepatic triglycerides (TGh) and liver non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) were then determined. Results: DECA elevated TG level in A group vs. control (p = 0.01), an increase prevented by taurine association in AT group (p = 0.04). DECA decreased HDL-C in A group vs. control (p = 0.02), while taurine tended to increase it in AT group. DECA decreased TGh (p = 0.02) in A group vs. control. Taurine decreased TGh in T (p = 0.004) and AT (p < 0.001) groups vs. control and tended to lower NEFA (p = 0.08) in AT group vs. A group. Neither DECA, nor taurine influenced TC and LDL-C levels. Conclusions: Taurine partially prevented the occurrence of DECA negative effects on lipid profile, suggesting a therapeutic potential in several conditions associated with chronic high levels of plasma androgens, such as endocrine disorders or AAS-abuse.

Keywords: AAS; DECA; HDL-C; anabolic androgenic steroids; cholesterol; lipids; lipoprotein; nandrolone decanoate; taurine; triglycerides.

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Conflict of interest statement

None of the authors have any conflict of interests to declare in connection with the submitted article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Graphical representation of the study design. The figure illustrates the main steps of the experiment: administration of vehicle in control group (C Group), administration of nandrolone decanoate (DECA) in androgen group (A Group), administration of taurine in taurine group (T Group), and co-administration of the two drugs in the mixed treated group (AT Group) for a period of 3 months; n - represents the number of rats in each group of the study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Influence of nandrolone decanoate, taurine and their combination on plasma triglycerides (TG) in rats. There was a significant increase of TG in the nandrolone decanoate treated group (A group) versus control group (C group) and also vs mixed treated group (AT group); T group represents the taurine treated group; n = 8 for each group of rats; TG is expressed in mg/dL; * represents p = 0.01 vs C group; † indicates p = 0.04 vs AT group.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Influence of nandrolone decanoate, taurine and their combination on high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). There was a significant decrease of HDL-C in the nandrolone decanoate treated group (A group) vs control group (C group); T group represents the taurine treated group, and AT group represents the mixed treated group; HDL-C is expressed in mg/dL; * represents p = 0.02 vs C group.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Influence of nandrolone decanoate, taurine and their combination on liver triglycerides (TGh). There was a significant decrease of TGh in the nandrolone decanoate treated group (A group), taurine treated group (T group) and mixed treated group (AT group) vs control group (C group); TGh is expressed in µg/mg tissue protein; * represents p = 0.02 vs C group; ‡ indicates p = 0.004 vs C group; § represents p < 0.001 vs C group.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Influence of nandrolone decanoate, taurine and their combination on liver non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA). There was a significant increase of NEFA in the nandrolone decanoate treated group (A group) vs control group (C group); T group represents the taurine treated group, and AT group represents the mixed treated group; NEFA is expressed in µmol/mg tissue protein; || represents p = 0.08 vs AT group.
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