Steroids are becoming more common within society and the pastimes people enjoy and are especially becoming popular in people trying to bulk up. Sport is a big part of Australian life, with Rugby extremely popular within New South Wales and Queensland and Cricket a popular sport within the entire country, and Australian Rules popular in nearly every state and territory around Australia. Children around Australia all year round might chose to put on their footy boots or pad up for cricket or get ready for a game of rugby. Parents might go and watch their kids play or go and watch with kids and socialize with the other patrons. Parents might even play with their children in some of these sports. However, with the ability for steroids to cause potential mental instability, this could affect how parents play and how they enjoy their time this report should provide detailed information about steroids and how they are formed, what they are based upon and natural steroid hormones that are produced within the body.  It should also explain reasoning behind why steroids affect the brain and how this can impact on someone’s performance in sports and in particular, bodybuilding as it is an extremely common place to find steroids being used.

Background

The more common form of steroids are anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) and are also referred to as anabolic steroids. They are synthetic variants to the male sex hormone testosterone. Anabolic steroids can be legally purchased in many countries around the world to treat medical conditions resulted from steroid hormone deficiency. In most of these countries steroids must be purchased with a prescription. 

Athletes and bodybuilders can see steroids as a means for performance enhancement and to improve their own appearance. 


Most anabolic steroids are usually ingested or injected in to muscle, though there are some available in a cream or lotion form or gel form. When abused the dosage may become 10-100 times higher than the recommended dosage. Most users will take steroids intermittently over continuously to avoid any side effects. These side effects include damage to gonads (testicles and ovaries), liver diseases, kidney and heart malfunctions, paranoia, mood swings (including deep depression), acne, high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, injuries to tendons due to being unable to keep up with rapid muscle development, delusional and feeling invincible and/or superhuman, muscle tremors and stunted bone growth in adolescents. There are some side effects that apply only to specific genders. It has been found that males can suffer from testicle and penis shrinkage and reduced sperm count, prostate problems, baldness and gynaecomastia/ breast development.

Women have been found to have a loss of their menstrual cycle (amenorrhea), shrunken breasts, deepened voices and facial and body hairs.

The simplest form of steroid to manufacture is gonane (C17H28) but the most common one found within the body is testosterone (C19H28O2) (see fig.1). Testosterone has been used to improve athletic performances but is considered to be doping. Testosterone is derived from cholesterol like many other hormones. There are other forms of steroid available: dexamethasone (C22H29FO5), which is a medications to treat severe allergies, asthma and croup, among others. Most steroids come in the form of Hydrocarbons. Progesterone (C21H30O2) is another form of steroid that naturally occurs within the body and is involved with the female menstrual cycle, pregnancy and embryogenesis. Medrogestone (C23H32O2) is a synthetic steroid that mimics the effects of progesterone.

Studies have shown a link between steroid hormones and aggression, where testosterone reacts with the nerve cells changing the behaviour.

Figure 1: Testosterone structure

Studies have concluded that these anabolic steroids have little to no effect on the brains reward pathway. The first experiment involved giving male rat’s methandrostenolone for two weeks and had no effect on the reward or performance components of intracranial self-stimulation. The second experiment involved 15 weeks of treatment using an AAS cocktail of testosterone cypionate, nandrolone decanoate and boldenone undecylenate that did not alter brain reward. 

Studies have found that the effects of testosterone (being the basis for any AA-steroids) can result in the loss of grey matter in the areas of the brain, namely the temporal lobe, relating to language processing. Steroids are generally fat soluble, allowing the ability for any change within a cell.
Anabolic steroids have been found to effect the brains neurotransmitter systems. Studies have shown that taking steroids can affect the brains serotonin and dopamine systems. These studies have shown that an anabolic steroid, nandrolone, can change the response to stimulating intoxicants by lessening the release of intoxicant-induced neurotransmitters.

Steroids are used in many other fields as well. In America, the FDA (food and drug administration) has green lit multiple steroid hormones to be used with livestock such as sheep and cattle. The FDA has approved natural hormones such as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone as well as their synthetic versions, mainly zeranol and trenbolone acetate. The FDA generally administers these hormones as a pellet and are inserted behind the ear of the animal. The pellet will slowly dissolve to promote muscle growth.

Steroids naturally will be derived from lanosterol in animals and fungi, while plants use cyloartenol. Steroidogenesis is a process where cholesterol generates steroids which in turn are transformed into other steroids.

Chemical synthesis for steroids relies on Marker degradation. Marker degradation was developed by American chemist Russel Earl Marker. It is a three-step synthetic route used in the production of cortisone and animal sex hormones using plant steroids. The idea of Marker degradation come about when Marker wanted to find a synthetic route for steroid hormone production but using inexpensive products.

As it is an illicit drug, anabolic steroids are highly valuable for underground producers. In American pharmacies these steroids could run upwards of $300 USD ($413 AUD) but many of these people using the steroids will buy them from underground suppliers for $100 USD ($137 AUD).  Many of these underground suppliers will give these steroids to regular people working out at a gym who just want to get slightly larger in mass.

In Thailand, anabolic steroids are legally available over the counter. Many of these can cost 512 THB ($20 AUD). In Australia the same amount would cost $250-350 per vial. 
In 2012-13, there were a 57% increase in border seizures of steroids. 90% of the increase was due to the attempted smuggling via parcels. In this time, there were 6,126 steroid detections, most detected in over a decade.

Discussion

Many sports around the world are enjoyed by people playing and viewing. The most common place to find people using anabolic steroids is professional bodybuilding. The majority of bodybuilders are understood to take some form of anabolic steroid to increase their muscle mass. Many of the people who use steroids in high doses have admitted to aggressive acts such as theft, physical attacks and vandalism.

An experiment was conducted where preadolescent male hamsters were given daily steroid injections for 30 days. After this, an intruder hamster was placed inside the cage to observe what reaction the hamsters gave. Half of the injected hamsters recorded more than 20 attacks while the other half recoded less than 5.

It was observed after testing that some of the hamsters had exerted more aggressive behaviour. But the other hamsters tested had no change detected.

This test and the test mentioned earlier provide a theory that the steroids, while not causing aggression spikes, will increase the likelihood that a person will get these spikes.
These spikes inherently can create troubles in sports, not just with their strength and speed, but their mindset when in a game of some kind. The athletes that use these steroids are more likely to be aggressive when not competing. These suspected acts of ‘roid rage’ can be caused by nearly anything causing a user to become angered. 

Steroids will increase the chance of aggression from the user. The steroids, working like testosterone, which has been found to have an effect on the natural brain circuit, will be supposedly mimicking what the natural testosterone effects have when they increase. The sports performance of the user, as mentioned previously, will increase aggression levels within an athlete, causing them to become more prepared to be more head-first in their approach to what they are doing.

This can cause potential injury to themselves or others, depending on what sport, due to the desire to win mixed with aggression levels rising to become reckless in decisions and potentially having a ‘win by any means’ way of thinking.

If it were to happen in the Australian Football League the player may seek out and attack the ball without worrying about the potential for knocking over the opposition or even any team mate.
Steroids will increase the chance of aggression from the user. The steroids, working like testosterone, which has been found to have an effect on the natural brain circuit, will be supposedly mimicking what the natural testosterone effects have when they increase. The sports performance of the user, as mentioned previously, will increase aggression levels within an athlete, causing them to become more prepared to be more head-first in their approach to what they are doing.

Steroids can also cause mood swings, leading to the change in aggression levels or want to play and be an important person when playing/competing. Thy can also experience fatigue and restlessness and insomnia. Insomnia is important as it can cause the athlete to become more tired and will make for a worse performance. 

Therefore, steroids will affect sports performance due to the loss of mental preparedness due to many different chain reactions from different mental illnesses they can cause.

In conclusion, steroids can be dangerous and are unpredictable due to the base of all anabolic steroids, testosterone. These steroids can be found readily available if sourced correctly and have become big business for any illegal producers. They can cause increased aggression among many other physical and mental side effects (deepened voice, mood swings). And the steroids people use can be incredibly dangerous due to illegal production. The illegal forms may be cheaper but the producers may use questionable ingredients from questionable sources. The steroids athletes may choose to use, while giving them a strength advantage, can quickly become their downfall due to the fatigue and insomnia they can cause. So how do steroids affect the brain and therefore sports performance, they simply cause the person to suffer from the previously mentioned conditions that will ultimately cause a drop in performance and will eventually cause a player or athlete to be unable to compete.

Public education piece

My public education piece is a pamphlet to advise the general public of the information learned during this research assignment.

References

Benjamin Wedro, Steroids, http://www.emedicinehealth.com/steroids/page2_em.htm, 15/9/2015

National Institute on drug abuse, DrugFacts; Anabolic Steroids, http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/anabolic-steroids, 15/9/2015

Betterhealth Victoria, Steroids, https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/steroids, 15/9/2015, 8/10/2015

Wikipedia, Steroid, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steroid, 15/9/2015, 8/10/2015

AS Clark/RC Lindefeld/CH Gibbons, Anabolic-androgenic steroids and brain reward, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8866980, 7/10/2015

Sanna Kailanto, Anabolic steroids cause long standing changes in the brain, http://www.dopinglinkki.fi/en/info-bank/doping-substances/anabolic-steroids-cause-long-standing-changes-brain, 7/10/2015, 12/10/2015

CAMH, do you know… Anabolic Steroids, http://www.camh.ca/en/hospital/health_information/a_z_mental_health_and_addiction_information/steroids/Pages/anabolic_steroids_dyk.aspx, 13/10/2015

FDA, steroid hormone implants used for growth in food- producing animals, http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/ProductSafetyInformation/ucm055436.htm,14/10/2015

AIC, Steroids, http://www.aic.gov.au/crime_types/drugs_alcohol/drug_types/steroids.html, 14/10/2015

American Underworld, Steroids: the lifestyle drug, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wCBRbwmax8, 19/10/2015

SunriseOn7, Thailand’s Steroid tourists, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vbYW-GnrSs, 19/10/2015

ABC, Bodybuilder gives insight into steroid holidays, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-30/bodybuilder-gives-insight-into-thailand-steroid-holidays/4723980,  19/10/2015