High-Dose Testosterone Propionate Treatment Reverses the Effects of Endurance Training on Myocardial Antioxidant Defenses in Adolescent Male Rats

• Published in: Cardiovascular toxicology Vol. 11; no. 2; pp. 118 - 127
• Main Authors: Sadowska-Krępa, Ewa, Kłapcińska, Barbara, Jagsz, Sławomir, Sobczak, Andrzej, Chrapusta, Stanisław J., Chalimoniuk, Małgorzata, Grieb, Paweł, Poprzęcki, Stanisław, Langfort, Józef
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Humana Press Inc 01-06-2011; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescence; Age Factors; Androgens; Animals; Antioxidants; Antioxidants - metabolism; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Bodybuilding; Cardiology; Child development; Dosage and administration; Enzymes; Exercise; Fitness equipment; Fitness training programs; Heart; Lipid peroxidation; Lipids; Male; Medical research; Myocardium - metabolism; Oxidative stress; Pharmacology/Toxicology; Physical Conditioning, Animal - methods; Physical Endurance - drug effects; Physical Endurance - physiology; Physiology; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Research centers; Steroids; Superoxide; Teenagers; Testosterone; Testosterone Propionate - administration & dosage; Testosterone Propionate - blood; Tocopherols; Young adults; Poland; Heart; Adolescence; Oxidative stress; Testosterone; Antioxidant enzymes; Tocopherols; Nonenzymatic antioxidants; Endurance training
• ISSN: 1530-7905; 1559-0259
• DOI: 10.1007/s12012-011-9105-3

This study was aimed at evaluation of changes in activities of selected antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione reductase) and contents of key nonenzymatic antioxidants (glutathione, protein thiol groups, and α- and γ-tocopherols) in the left heart ventricle of young male Wistar rats subjected to endurance training (treadmill running, 1 h daily, 5 days a week, for 6 weeks) or/and testosterone propionate treatment (8 or 80 mg/kg body weight, intramuscularly, once a week, for 6 weeks) during adolescence. The training alone increased the activities of key antioxidant enzymes, but lowered the pool of nonenzymatic antioxidants and enhanced myocardial oxidative stress as evidenced by elevation of the lipid peroxidation biomarker malondialdehyde. The lower-dose testosterone treatment showed mixed effects on the individual components of the antioxidant defense system, but markedly enhanced lipid peroxidation. The higher-dose testosterone treatment decreased the activities of the antioxidant enzymes, lowered the contents of the nonenzymatic antioxidants, except for that of γ-tocopherol, reversed the effect of endurance training on the antioxidant enzymes activities, and enhanced lipid peroxidation more than the lower-dose treatment. These data demonstrate the potential risk to cardiac health from exogenous androgen use, either alone or in combination with endurance training, in adolescents.