Anabolic agents assessment

Although some of these substances originate as medicines, e.g. contraceptive steroids and some antimycotic agents, others arise from personal care products and industrial chemicals.This is a major area of concern for human reproductive health assessment, and one that deserves thorough investigation and consideration. Where these types of product are shown to have a veterinary origin, as is the case with the anabolic agents in countries where their use is permitted, then clearly measures to protect the environment and public health must be considered (see Chapter 13). 

A ndrogenic and anabolic steroidal hormones present a complex problem of assessment. Their biology, their clinical applications, and the synthetic routes to the best known agents are considered here. 

Measurement of androgenic potency will be considered before the much more complex assessment of anabolic activity. I should like to start with the four-legged laboratory rodents and progress upward through laboratory primates to man. As would be expected, each of these steps creates difficulties of transition which are in part inherent in the differences of the animals, the ability to measure the end points, and the absorption and handling of the steroidal agents by the different species. 

---