The effect of anabolic-androgenic steroids on primary myocardial cell cultures

MELCHERT, R. B., T. J. HERRON, and A. A. WELDER. The effect of anabolic-androgenic steroids on primary myocardial cell cultures. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 206–212, 1992. Although recent case reports suggest that anabolic-androgenic steroids may be directly injurious to the cardiovascular system, the direct myocardial cellular consequences of abuse of these drugs are not known. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the concentration- and time-dependent effects of testosterone cypionate (TC), stanozolol (S), and fluoxymesterone (F) on primary myocardial cell cultures. Evaluation of drug effects were made in 4-d-old primary myocardial cell cultures obtained from 3− to 5-d-old Sprague-Dawley rats. The cultures were exposed to 1 x 10–4 M, 1 x 10–6 M, and 1 x 10–8 M concentrations of TC, S, and F each for 1, 4, and 24 h. Cellular injury was evaluated by alterations in beating activity, induction of morphological alterations, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, neutral red retention, and tetrazolium (MTT) formazan production. Significant alterations in beating activity were observed in the 1 x 10–4 M TC group in which no beating activity was seen at 1, 4, and 24 h. Morphological integrity was disrupted for the 1 x 10–4 M TC group at 24 h where destruction of the monolayer was observed. Unlike the cultures treated with the three concentrations of both S and F, significant LDH release was seen at 4 and 24 h with those cultures exposed to 1 x 10–4 M TC. In the evaluation of neutral red retention, 1 x 10–4 M TC at 24 h showed a significant decrease in ability to retain the dye. Also at 24 h, the MTT assays revealed similar results in that the 1 x 10–4 M TC treatment group showed a significant decrease in the ability to convert MTT to MTT formazan. In conclusion, 1 x 10–4 M TC produced a concentration- and time-dependent toxic effect in postnatal rat myocardial cell cultures exhibited by significant increase in LDH release, decrease in neutral red retention, and decrease in MTT formazan production.