Abstract            Volume:5  Issue-6  Year-2017         Original Research Articles

Online ISSN : 2347 - 3215 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcret@gmail.com

The anabolic androgenic steroid nandrolone decanote (ND) is a synthetic testosterone derivative represented the most widely abused drugs all over the world with the purpose of ameliorating athletic efficiency and appearance. Despite the prevailing misuse of ND, the endocrine influences of supraphysiologic dosages of this compound still ambiguous. The present investigation was designed to study the effect of therapeutic and supraphysiologic doses of ND on histological and ultrastructural features of rats adrenal cortices. Twenty-four animals were grouped into control, ND therapeutic dose, and ND supraphysiologic dose groups. The current results showed that the adrenal cortices of rats treated with ND therapeutic dose exhibited mild alteration of their adrenocortical zones; ZG, ZF and ZR. Whereas, the adrenal cortices of rats treated with the ND supraphysiological dose manifested severe degenerative changes represented as reduction in the thickness of all adrenocortical zones, compression of their cells which appeared with vacuolated cytoplasm and their nuclei showed signs of pyknosis, karyorrhexis and karyolysis. Most of the adverse impacts following the abuse of ND resulted from the enhancement of normal physiologic response to testosterone by either direct receptor agonist activity or suppression of steroid biosynthesis. The current histological and ultrastructural studies emphasis that the supraphysiologic dose of ND induced serious hazardous alterations in the adrenal cortex which might be reflected in suppression of steroid hormones biosynthesis. Therefore, these results are exceedingly pertinent to highlight the prospective hazard of the indistinctive utilization of the AASs in sports by athletes and bodybuilders, as well as by adolescents.

Download this article as