Effect of anabolic steroids on craniofacical growth and development in rats

Abstract

I evaluated the effect of an anabolic steroid on craniofacial growth and development in rats. One-hundred twenty 5-week-old female Sprague Dawley rats were divided into experimental and control groups. Rats in the experimental group were injected subcutaneously with nandrolone phenylpropionate in the intra-scapular region on alternate days, while those in the control group were injected with the vehicle, arachis oil. The rats were sacrificed with chloroform at 60 and 120 days of age. Soft X-rays and cephalometric analysis showed that chronic administration of the anabolic steroid nandrolone phenylpropionate resulted in accerelated craniofacial growth and development in the rats.