Effect of Anabolic Steroids on Plasma Glycoproteins

Abstract

WE have previously reported an increase in ${\text{α}}_{2^{-}}$ and β-globulins and an increase in β-lipoprotein after administration of the anabolic steroid, 17-ethyl-19-nortestosterone (norethandrolone) (Fig. 1A) to human subjects¹, and our subsequent work (unpublished) disclosed that this increase in serum protein fractions is associated with increases in protein bound carbohydrates (Fig. 2). We have recently had the opportunity to study the effects of an anabolic steroid with a unique chemical configuration, oxandrolone (Fig. 1B), in eleven patients with disorders of lipid metabolism. This compound was found to cause a marked increase in α₂-globulin (P < 0.001) but no change in β-globulin. Associated with this, there was a highly significant increase in α₂-glycoprotein (P < 0.01, > 0.001) in all the patients studied (Fig. 3). The increases in α₂-globulin and glycoprotein were definitive in all the eleven patients 5 weeks after the start of oxandrolone therapy. Thus it seems that both these anabolic steroids significantly enhance the concentrations of plasma glycoprotein.