the effects of anabolic steroid stanozolol along with eight weeks of resistance training on structural changes in male rats' liver

the aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of anabolic steroid stanozolol along with eight weeks of resistance training on structural changes in male rats' liver tissue. for this purpose, 28 male adult wistar rats (age: 12 weeks old and 228.53±7.94 g body weight) were randomly assigned to four groups: group 1: control+placebo (n=7), group 2: resistance training+placebo (n=7), group 3: resistance training+st 2mg/kg (n=7) and group 4: resistance training+st 5mg/kg (n=7). the resistance training protocol consisted of three sessions weekly by 3 sets / 5 reps of climbing up a ladder (the initial weight attached to the rats was 50% of their body weight in the first week which increased 10% per week throughout the training period and reached 120% in the last week) for 8 weeks. at the end of the protocol, slides of subjects' liver were prepared and studied by a light microscope. the results showed that rats receiving st did not show any significant increase in their body weight compared with other groups (p˂0.05). stained sections of rats' livers showed that control and training+placebo were healthy but st–treated groups showed hepatotoxicity such as congested blood sinusoids, cell cytoplasmic vacuoles, cell infiltration and degeneration. hepatotoxic effects were severe in group received 5 mg/kg body weight and were directly depended on the dose. the histopathological changes showed cell death and necrosis in liver tissue. the present results showed that resistance training was not able to prevent liver st hepatotoxicity and although st had been injected in low dose, the hepatotoxicity was observed. as a result, athletes should not use anabolic steroid (st among them) to enhance performance, muscle mass and strength.