Oct 21, 2013 | By Tim Powers

The Science of Steroid Use and Abuse

Addiction & Recovery News

The Science of Steroid Use and Abuse

There is concern concerning steroid use and abuse in young people and the disconnect between emotions and thought processes of young people and what steroids can do to one’s body.  Leslie Henderson, a professor of physiology and neurobiology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College had done research regarding the scientific side of steroid use and abuse and some of her findings where highlighted in the August 6, 2012 edition of Science Daily.  While the focus of attention concerning the use and abuse of steroids has been on sports luminaries such as Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and more recently Alex Rodriguez, Henderson has focused on the prevailing attitude adolescents have regarding steroids as well as the physical and mental effects of steroid use and abuse among adolescents.

Henderson has noted that websites that target steroid users often acknowledge that steroids can affect one’s body or that steroid use and abuse can make one aggressive.  While these things do happen with steroid use, these sites don’t say anything regarding how steroid use and abuse changes one’s brain chemistry and how it works.

“Teenagers need to recognize that these drugs actually do things to your brain, and your behavior comes from your brain.” Henderson said.

AAS, or anabolic-androgenic steroids, are the drugs of concern and the crux of Henderson’s research.  This group of steroids are synthetic derivatives of testosterone and originally designed to provide enhanced anabolic (tissue-building) potency with negligible androgenic (or masculinizing) effects.  In a paper published in 2003, Henderson and Ann Clark, her long-time Dartmouth College collaborator and professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, wrote about the dangers of AAS when it comes to steroid use and abuse.

“Although originally developed for clinical use, AAS administration is now predominately one of abuse, and the medical benefits of low doses of AAS stand in sharp contrast to the potential health risks associated with the excessive doses self-administered by athletes,” wrote Henderson and Clark.

The combination of the implicit danger in the high dosages that athletes administer and the uncontrolled variability in the composition of these synthetics, the chemical modifications made to these substances can directly interact and change the way neurotransmitters function in the brain.  Henderson notes that despite these dangers, they are muted by the primary objective of sport in which gaining a competitive advantage is at the forefront.  Compounding these issues are the impacts of steroid use and abuse at an early age.

Henderson notes there are “critical periods” in development when steroid use and abuse during adolescence can cause permanent changes in both brain organization and function.  The result of these changes can result in both physiological and psychiatric effects and can still be prevalent during middle age.  In animal models, Henderson notes that when steroids were taken during the adolescent time frame, there were longer lasting negative behavioral effects such as aggression in comparison to taking steroids as an adult.