Testosterone will always be the king of
anabolic-androgenic steroids
since it is a reliable mass building agent. As proof of its efficacy,
you can use it alone and still have substantial bodybuilding feedback
with just 500mg per week.
To have a better grasp about how
synthetic testosterone behaves, you have to understand first how
natural testosterone acts in the body.
Testosterone
is a steroid hormone form the androgen group that is responsible for
the mental, sexual, and physiological development in the human body.
This
hormone
is behind the androgenic effects in the body – development of the
reproductive tract, increase of the size of the penis, growth of body
and facial hair. Testosterone is also responsible for anabolic changes
as illustrated by growth spurts and increase in strength and muscle
bulk.
In the human body, testosterone occurs in two states – the bound and unbound
testosterone.
Ninety-eight per cent of natural testosterone is bound to the plasma
protein called sex hormone-binding globulin. That makes only 2% of
unbound testosterone that is free to circulate in the bloodstream to
bind with androgen receptors located at different parts of the body,
including in the muscle cells. When the hormone binds with the androgen
receptors it’s then and there that anabolism takes place.
Synthetic
testosterone is designed to mimic this specific activity of natural
testosterone – to attach to the androgen receptors for the promotion of
muscle tissue building. Designers of steroids are able to manipulate
the structure of this hormone, but only up to a certain degree. So far,
they have been unable to completely get rid of the androgenic effects
of testosterone, which cause changes in the body that bodybuilders
(particularly female bodybuilders) find unattractive. Thus, when you
take testosterone you experience massive and dramatic muscle gains plus
the attendant androgenic effects.
Testosterone has strong
binding affinity with androgen receptors, thus it dramatically induces
muscle mass. However, testosterone converts to estrogen. If
testosterone is referred to as the male sex hormone, estrogen is the
female sex hormone. Both of these hormones are present in both sexes
but in different amounts Testosterone, of course, occurs at a higher
amount in males and estrogen in higher amount in females. These two
hormones fulfill important role in both genders; however, when they
occur in abnormal levels side effects may arise. In males, abnormally
high amount of estrogen can result to feminization symptoms which
include gynecomastia and fat and water retention.
Testosterone also converts to
dihydrotestosterone (
DHT),
a hormone that’s up to three times (some say up to five times) more
potent than testosterone. Thus, in areas where testosterone is
converted to DHT, side effects are most likely to occur. These include
tissues in the skin, scalp, and the prostate. As such, with
testosterone use male pattern baldness (androgenetic alopecia), acne,
and prostate enlargement can occur, especially in predisposed
individuals. There have been several instances when testosterone is
blamed for the occurrence of prostate cancer, but recent studies shown
that this is not the case. Testosterone does not cause this disorder;
however, it can hasten the growth of existing prostate malignancy.
