The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism
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J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. · Aug 1999
Short-term oxandrolone administration stimulates net muscle protein synthesis in young men.
Short term administration of testosterone stimulates net protein synthesis in healthy men. We investigated whether oxandrolone [Oxandrin (OX)], a synthetic analog of testosterone, would improve net muscle protein synthesis and transport of amino acids across the leg. Six healthy men [22+/-1 (+/-SE) yr] were studied in the postabsorptive state before and after 5 days of oral OX (15 mg/day). ⋯ Further, RT-PCR showed that OX administration significantly increased mRNA concentrations of skeletal muscle AR without changing insulin-like growth factor I mRNA concentrations. We conclude that short term OX administration stimulated an increase in skeletal muscle protein synthesis and improved intracellular reutilization of amino acids. The mechanism for this stimulation may be related to an OX-induced increase in AR expression in skeletal muscle.