Anabolic Steroids For Muscle Building May Destroy Brain Cells

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Main Category: Sports Medicine / Fitness
Also Included In: Men's health;  Neurology / Neuroscience;  Endocrinology
Article Date: 02 Oct 2006 - 11:00 PDT

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If you use anabolic steroids to help your muscles get bigger you should bear in mind that you could also be destroying your brain cells in a big way, say researchers from the Yale School of Medicine, who found that steroids, which cause testosterone levels to go up, destroy nerve cells.

You can read about this new study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Hyperexcitability, a condition not uncommon among bodybuilders who become aggressive and even suicidal, may occur as a result of steroid use, suggest the researchers.

Professor Barbara Ehrlich, head of the research team, said "Next time a muscle-bound guy in a sports car cuts you off on the highway, don't get mad, just take a deep breath and realise that it might not be his fault."

The researchers found that apoptosis was triggered when cultured nerve cells were exposed to testosterone. Apoptosis is a form of "cell suicide" in which damaged cells eliminate themselves with less harm to their neighbors - in other words 'programmed cell death'. This process has been linked to such diseases as Alzheimer's and Hutington's disease.

Previous studies on hamsters have shown they become much more aggressive when given anabolic steroids.

"Elevated Testosterone Induces Apoptosis in Neuronal Cells"
Manuel Estrada, Anurag Varshney, and Barbara E. Ehrlich
J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 281, Issue 35, 25492-25501, September 1, 2006
Click here to view abstract online

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
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