Research Update #8

by Hypertrophy

As we approach the new millennium we find the science of building muscle progressing faster than ever before. Long gone are the days of simple trial and error when it comes to building muscle. The modern bodybuilder demands more than just "hear say" if they are to adopt a new training routine or nutritional supplement. This column was created to keep today’s bodybuilder on the cutting edge of scientific research that might benefit them in their quest for body perfection.

Scientists hit another road block in their attempts to detect GH use by athletes.

Title:

Growth hormone induced increase in serum IGFBP-3 level is reversed by anabolic steroids in substance abusing power athletes.

Researchers:

Karila T, Koistinen H, Seppala M, Koistinen R, Seppala T

National Public Health Institute, Laboratory of Pharmacology and Toxicology,

Helsinki, Finland.

Source:

Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 1998 Oct;49(4):459-63

Summary:

OBJECTIVE: Body builders may use growth hormone (GH) and anabolic steroids to increase muscle mass. GH increases serum concentrations of IGF-I and IGFBP-3. The combined effects of GH and anabolic androgenic steroids on IGFBP-3 and IGF-I levels are not known under authentic substance-abusing conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate this in substance-abusing power athletes.

DESIGN AND PATIENTS: Nine healthy, non-obese and non-competing male power athletes, all aggressive substance abusers, used GH and/or anabolic steroids independently of this study. Blood samples were taken both during and between the drug intake. Sixteen substance non-abusing wrestlers served as controls. MEASUREMENTS: Serum IGF-I concentration was measured by radioimmunoassay and the IGFBP-3 concentration was measured by two immunofluorometric assays, one detecting proteolytic fragments of IGFBP-3. The capacity of serum to proteolytically cleave IGFBP-3 was studied by the proteolysis assay.

RESULTS: While growth hormone increased the IGFBP-3 and IGF-I concentrations, anabolic steroids decreased the same. Concomitant use of growth hormone and anabolic steroids decreased the IGFBP-3 concentration in five out of six abuse periods in spite of the fact that the IGF-I concentration remained elevated in four of them. However, in two men who were on low calorie diet both the IGF-I and IGFBP-3 concentrations decreased during combined GH/anabolic steroid abuse. No proteolytic fragmentation of IGFBP-3 was observed.

CONCLUSION: Massive abuse of anabolic steroids (no pun intended) decreases both the basal and GH-stimulated IGFBP-3 concentrations, whereas its effects on serum IGF-I concentration are variable and affected by low calorie diet. This study demonstrates that detection of GH doping by measuring the IGF-I and/or IGFBP-3 levels has notable confounding factors.

Discussion:

Aside from the simple desire to understand the effects of combining GH and anabolic steroids, these researchers were evaluating the possibility of testing for GH use in athletes by looking at their Insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP-3 specifically) levels. Because GH is released in pulsatile fashion with an extremely short serum half-life, it is almost impossible to determine if tested levels represent exogenous injections or normal circadian fluctuations. GH concentrations are also significantly effected by dietary intake, making detection even more difficult. It is well known that GH administration significantly increases serum Insulin-like growth factors and their binding proteins. For this reason these researchers were testing the hypothesis that elicit GH use could be detected by measuring IGFBPs’ and specifically IGFBP-3.

To the researchers dismay, it was found in this study that concomitant use of anabolic steroids reversed the GH induced increase in IGFBP-3 even while IGF-1 was increase significantly. Because it is common to use both drugs together, this puts in serious question testing for IGFBP-3 to detect GH use among athletes.

Some of the subjects in this study were taking as much as 200 mg of steroids per day in addition to 4 IU per day of GH. This is well into the "heavy drug user" category even by todays standards. This is good in that it may accurately reflect what many guys are doing in real life.

When anabolics were taken along with GH, IGF-1 levels rose in all cases but two. The two cases in question were also on low calorie diets. This poses an additional obstacle to testing for GH by measuring IGF-1 or its binding proteins. On the positive side, it also presents us with further information about why using anabolics is less effective when on a low calorie diet even in the presents of adequate protein intake. Even when adding GH to the mix, the decrease in IGF-1 levels may significantly attenuate the accrual of lean mass.

Scientists will continue to search for more effective ways of testing athletes for drug use. As a result of their work, we are constantly uncovering new mechanisms and pathways by which these anabolic substances work in our bodies and how they interact with our training and diet. With understanding comes wisdom, and with wisdom comes power. The power to realize our aspirations. To some this means beating the system, to others it means building a better mouse trap!

Title:

Phosphocreatine resynthesis is not effected by creatine loading.

Researchers:

Vandenberghe K, Van Hecke P, Van Leemputte M, Vanstaple F, Hespel P.

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

Summary:

The effect of creatine loading (25 grams/day for 5 days) on muscle phosphocreatine (PCr) breakdown and resynthesis and muscle performance during high intensity intermittent muscle contractions was investigated.

A double blind cross over study was performed in young healthy male subjects. P-NMR spectroscopy of the gastrocnemius and isokinetic dynamometry of knee extension torque were performed before and after 2 and 5 days of either placebo or creatine supplementaiton.

Compared with placebo, 2 and 5 days of creatine increased resting muscle phosphoscreatine concentration by 11% and 16% respectively. Furthermore, torque production during maximal intermittent knee extensions, including the first bout of contractions, was increased by 5-13% by either 2 - 5 days of creatine supplementation. However, the rate of PCr breakdown and resynthesis was not significantly different from placebo during isometric contractions.

Discussion:

Creatine supplementation increases intracellular phosphocreatine (PCr) concentrations by up 20% above baseline. It has been speculated that this increase in PCr allows the muscle cell to resynthesis ATP from ADP and PCr more rapidly by increasing the resynthesis of PCr. This and a few previous studies indicate that this may not be true.

Over the last several years much research has been performed detailing the ergogenic effect of creatine loading. I’m sure many of you reading this can attest to the effects of creatine. Most of these studies showed beneficial effects of creatine loading on the performance of high intensity intermittent exercise. From this the hypothesis about creatine aiding PCr regeneration was formed.

In this study it was shown that creatine supplementation did not lead to an increase in PCr resynthesis. Although there was not an increase in PCr resynthesis, creatine loading did show ergogenic effects by increasing peak torque and anaerobic power. In fact, it only took 2 days of loading to increase peak torque and an additional 3 days of loading did not further enhance torque production. This indicates that 2 days of loading may be all that’s necessary to see an ergogenic effect.

Studies showing the greatest increase in PCr over baseline have also shown the greatest improvements in performance. This study also demonstrated this. Several studies have shown only minor increases in PCr resynthesis with creatine loading even with substantial increases in PCr levels over baseline.

So the question remains, "How does creatine loading increase performance?" These researchers speculate an interesting hypothesis. In their laboratory they have shown that creatine loading shortens the relaxation time for muscle fibers. You may wonder how this could possibly improve high intensity muscle output. Well, under sprinting conditions, muscle spindles act to modulate muscle contraction in a reflex manner. Because of this, rapid contraction of one muscle group, like your quads, causes a reflex contraction of your hamstrings. You end up with very rapid contraction-relaxation cycles of muscle activation. If sufficient ATP is not available, residual cross bridge attachments remain coupled until more ATP is available allowing the myosin heads to disassociate from the actin filaments. This creates resistance against the pull of your quads making their contraction less forceful. It also leads to greater and more rapid fatigue of both muscle groups. By increasing the muscles ability to relax in between contractions, you reduce the resistance placed on the agonist’s contraction as well as reducing the involuntary eccentric contractions of the antagonist muscle group.

Doing research on creatine is extremely popular now days. It is difficult to find a university where some grad student, in either nutrition of exercise physiology, is not doing their thesis on creatine. It is only a matter of time before we have creatine pretty much figured out. Until then, at least we know it works and there is no reason not to take advantage of that, even if we don’t know how it works.

Title:

Abscess related to anabolic-androgen steroid injection.

Researchers:

Rich JD, Dickinson BP, Flanigan TP, Valone SE.

The Miriam Hospital, Brown University, Providence RI, & Boulder County Hospital, Boulder CO.

Source:

Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 31(2) 207-209, 1999

Summary:

A case report is presented of a 26 year old anabolic steroid user who did not use sterile injection techniques and wound up with an injection-related thigh abscess. This individual reported sharing multidosage vials with two other weightlifting colleagues who also developed infections. It took approximately 3-4 months and a trip to the emergency room to control the infection and begin healing.

Discussion:

I do not usually focus on case reports in this column. I wanted to make an exception in this instance because I felt it was important to draw readers attention to one of the risks involved with using injectable steroids.

Two factors put American bodybuilders and strength athletes at risk of injection-related infections. One, strict government policies established in the 1980's regarding the legal consequences of using and/or possessing anabolic/androgenic steroids has greatly curtailed their availability through medical channels. Two, many novice steroid users are unfamiliar with the risks involved in improper injection methods as well as the risks involved with sharing needles and/or vials.

Physicians have been put under tremendous pressure not to prescribe steroids to individuals for purposes of physical enhancement, thus diminishing the availability of steroids through proper channels. American pharmaceutical companies have also greatly decreased production of anabolic/androgenic steroids. It just isn’t financially practical if physicians can no longer prescribe them to a broader market. This has lead to a boom in black market products, most of which are of questionable quality and are often produced under unsterile manufacturing conditions. Most bodybuilders do not have the means or education necessary to recognize counterfeits or have all of their drugs tested in a laboratory for purity. As a result, people are gambling with their health by using steroids they procure from black market sources. Sometimes the product is fairly pure and the user experiences the expected results. Then again, how often do you hear about a bodybuilder doing a cycle and experiencing none of the expected gains? Usually the guy feels too foolish to tell everybody, "Hey everybody, look at what a fool I am. I just spent a ton of money on steroids, bought them from someone I didn’t know personally, and they turned out to be fake! In fact, I have no idea what I just injected into my body over the last several weeks!" This is not the kind of thing an aspiring young bodybuilder brags about.

Sometimes the mysterious oil in the bottle is innocuous, sometimes it contains infectious agents such as rare bacteria and toxic chemicals. There are several reports in the literature of bodybuilders getting abscess’ from "atypical bacteria". Atypical bacteria are ubiquitous in the environment, are able to survive for prolonged periods without nutrients, such as in a vial of steroids, and are very capable of causing difficult to treat infections at the site of injection.

If you surf the bodybuilding message boards you will undoubtedly find numerous questions from novice drug users. The anonymous writer usually wants to know, "how much should I take?", "When will I start seeing gains?", or "what should I combine with it?". It is not very often that someone asks, "how do I avoid infecting myself with my own skin flora?" or "what should I tell my physician to test for when this thing gets infected?". All to often the excitement of having that precious little bottle of dreams in their hands makes them throw caution to the wind.

There is also the matter of secrecy. I often get the sense that some bodybuilders get a sort of juvenile titillation from just talking about steroids and just can’t keep the secret to themselves. When they just can’t stand the excitement of being so sneaky anymore and begin to talk about using them, they seldom ask intelligent questions. Those who are more mature yet equally uninformed face another dilemma, how do you ask questions relating to self administering injectable drugs without incurring other’s curiosity as to why you would want to know.... "Well,...I have this friend who...", anyway, you get the picture.

Then there are the experienced users who simply get careless. It is this population that is perhaps more at risk simply because of the greater volume of drugs they use throughout their bodybuilding career. You will not usually get wind of a well known bodybuilder suffering from injection related infections. It’s not that they don’t happen, it’s simply that you don’t hear about them. Drug paraphernalia and prescription laws in many states, which are intended to curtail illicit drug use, decrease access to sterile injection equipment even for experienced users. Many times when darts and vials are scarce, they are shared. This greatly increases the risk of contracting blood born pathogens such as HIV, hepatitis C and hepatitis B. There are documented cases of each of these diseases being contracted after injecting steroids.

A word of caution is all I offer. There are proper ways of administering injectable drugs that reduce the risk of infection. There are also life saving precautions that must be taken by bodybuilders using steroids such as not sharing needles and not sharing multi-dose vials. If you are willing to put in the effort and pay the price to get illegal injectable steroids, at least take the time to educate yourself about the proper way to administer them as well as the risks involved with their use.