Effects of steroids on the course of hereditary muscular dystrophy in mice

The administration of anabolic-androgenic steroids or digitalis glycosides to mice with hereditary muscular dystrophy prolonged their life span, whereas treatment with estrogens, deoxycorticosterone or aldosterone resulted in a significantly lower mean attained age. Of the anabolic steroids, 1-methyl-Δ1-androstenolone acetate, Δ1-17α-methyltestosterone, and methyltestosterone were the most effective compounds tested. Prolongation of the life span was accompanied by a slowing in the rate of deterioration of muscle strength. Dystrophic animals pretreated with digitoxin or 1-methyl-Δ1-androstenolone acetate showed a significant lowering of the abnormally high muscle sodium and chloride in control dystrophics. Pretreatment of dystrophic mice with 1-methylΔ1-androstenolone alone or together with digitoxin resulted in a significant lowering, from the abnormally high values characteristic of dystrophic muscle, of the potassium efflux from excised peroneus longus muscles.