Histological changes in testes of rats treated with testosterone, nandrolone, and stanozolol

Background: anabolic androgenic steroids (aas) is being used in medical treatments, but aas also was identified to have the risks of adverse effects towards patients and consumers health. objective: present study was conducted to observe the effects of testosterone, nandrolone, and stanozolol (forms of aas) intake during onset of puberty on the rat testicular histology. materials and methods: juvenile male sprague-dawley (sd) rats (n=42) were divided into seven groups and were injected subcutaneously with medium dose of polyethylene glycol-200 (peg-200) (control), testosterone, nandrolone, and stanozolol for six weeks (pnd 41-87). the animals were weighed daily and sacrificed on pnd 88. testes were removed, weighed, and prepared for histological assessment and finally specimens were observed under microscope. results: the results showed an insignificant increase in mean daily body weight with highest and lowest body weight gained was of 177.6±1.69 gr and 140.0±12.26 gr respectively. there was significant decrease in the testes absolute weight (p≤0.01) in all experimental groups except in the nandrolone 2.5 mg/kg/week treated group. testicular histology of rats treated with aas also showed slight changes in the uniformity of arrangements of seminiferous tubules. conclusion: data from present study suggests that aas have been initiating the adverse effects on testicular normal functions in rats during onset of puberty.