Steroid Testing: A layman’s Guide to Steroids

Anabolic steroids, also known as anabolic-androgenic steroids or AAS, are a class of steroid hormones related to the hormone testosterone which is known to build muscle tissue & to cause the development of male secondary sex characteristics. However, testosterone in its natural form has a half life of only about ten minutes in the body. So, for therapeutic purposes medicinal chemists began to alter natural testosterone in an attempt to make drugs that would work like testosterone but last long enough in the body to have an effect and thus synthetic steroids were born which can either be taken orally, injected in veins or applied as skin patches.

As anabolic steroids simulate testosterone in building the muscle mass and physical strength, they are thus frequently abused in different types of professional sports to enhance strength, physique & develop endurance to attain a competitive edge or to assist in recovery from injury. Such use is prohibited by the rules of the governing bodies of many sports. So, a diverse array of tests are designed to detect and deter performance-enhancing drugs abuse by competitors in various sports & every year over 100,000 drug tests are conducted worldwide at a whooping cost of $30 million.

Steroid Testing:

Laboratory testing for testosterone or any of its known metabolites may be done by antibody based screening like ELISA. Liquid Chromatography can also be performed while TLC may help in low cost preliminary analysis. A MS/GC based analysis may be used as a confirmatory test for validation purposes. All these tests can be done either on blood samples or urine samples or even on hair follicle samples. However, for periodic monitoring purposes many rapid screening kits are available commercially for home use.

Some of the steroids which are frequently tested for are:

• Tetrahydrogestrinone (THG): It is a designer i.e. structurally modified anabolic androgenic steroid that is prohibited in sport. THG was developed via manipulation of another prohibited substance to illicitly enhance elite sports performance.
• Boldenone Undecylenate (Equipoise): It is a derivative of testosterone, which exhibits strong anabolic and moderately androgenic properties. The undecylenate ester greatly extends the activity of the drug. As with all steroids, this compound shows a marked ability for increasing red blood cell production. Equipoise is not a rapid mass builder, but will provide a slow but steady gain of strength and quality muscle mass.
• Oxandrolone (Anavar): It was designed as an extremely mild anabolic, one that could even be safely used as a growth stimulant in children. This steroid works well for the promotion of strength and duality muscle mass gains; although it's mild nature makes it less than ideal for bulking purposes.
• Testosterone: Testosterone is a hormone, naturally occurring in the human body and is responsible for the development of male reproductive organs and secondary sexual characteristics. Testosterone has been taken to enhance muscle development, strength, or endurance. They do so directly by increasing the muscles' protein synthesis. In result muscle fibers become larger and repair faster than the average person’s. It may cause increases in muscle bulk, mood change (aggression), hair loss, deepened voice, acne and infertility as the side effects.
• Stanozolol (Winstrol): The anabolic properties of this substance are still mild in comparison to many stronger compounds, but it is still a good, reliable builder of muscle.
• Clostebol (Steranobol): Structurally, clostebol is simply testosterone with an added chloro group at the 4-position. It is a synthetic androgenic steroid with anabolic effects that is frequently used in sports to increase physical performance. Because of medical and ethical reasons, the use of clostebol is prohibited by the International Olympic Committee.
• Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA): It is the most abundant androgen (male steroid hormone) secreted by the adrenal glands. Considerable interest in DHEA has developed in recent years with reports that it may play a role in the aging process. Circulating levels of DHEA peak at age 25 and then steadily decline with age. Some researchers consider DHEA a possible anti-aging hormone because DHEA deficiencies in older individuals have been associated with a number of medical conditions including breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, impaired In addition; population-based studies have suggested that people with higher DHEA levels tend to live longer, healthier lives than those with lower levels of DHEA.

This Article is written by Tarun Gupta, the author of Health Information Articles. More information on the subject is at Steroid Testing: A layman’s Guide to Steroids, and resources from other home health and wellness testing sources are used such as Steroid Test Kit.