Effects of anabolic steroids studied

Press, 29 January 1982, Page 16

Effects of anabolic steroids studied

Anabolic steroids administered at the recommended dosages have no effect on the ability of mares to reproduce, according to research carried out by the Veterinary Science department of Lincoln College. The research study has followed widespread criticism in New Zealand horse breeding and racing of the mainly Australian' practice of administering anabolic steriods to New Zealand fillies leased to Australian trainers. The New Zealand owners of fillies which race in Australia for extended periods have become worried that the practice among top horse trainers across the Tasman

of administering the steroids could diminish the reproductive capacity of mares. Anabolic steroids are given to horses in the belie! that they increase muscle mass and improve performance on the racetrack.

The drugs are also given to top beef cattle to build mass and it has long been alleged that women athletes from behind the Iron Curtain have been taking anabolic steroids to lift their sporting achievements.

■ But very little research has been done on the possible side effects of taking such drugs, which are artificially produced hormones, over long periods, either by humans, cattle or horses.

The Lincoln College study was set up with a grant from the New Zealand Equine Research Foundation to try and provide such data on any side effects in mares and follows the New Zealand criticism of the Australian practice, although some steroids are administered by race horse owners and trainers in New Zealand also. The Lincoln College research project was carried out by Professor C. H. G. Irvine, Professor of Veterinary Science, and Miss Julie Turner, a research scientist with the Veterinary Science department. They, along with four others from Christchurch, are in Sydney this week for

the third international symposium on equine reproduction. where Miss Turner will deliver a paper on the effect of anabolic steroids on the reproductive system of the horse.

Miss Turner summarised the research, which has taken nearly three years and is not yet complete, before she left for Sydney. The major finding was that the ability of mares to reproduce was not affected by long-term doses of commercially available steroids given at the recommended rates.

The unfinished part of the research involves giving dosages three times the recommended rate to gauge pos-

sible effects, but Miss Turner said she was not prepared to comment yet on any results of such large dosing. She said that research was done on 20 mares' at Lincoln and a control group was kept to provide a basis for comparison. The mares were all weighed during the course of the 18 months that the recommended dose of steroid was given and one of the more surprising results of the research was that the mares given steroids did not gain weight compared with those. who didn't get the drugs. As this is one of the objectives of giving steroids, the research thus questions

the benefit of administering such chemicals to racing fillies. or for that matter to women athletes. Another group of mares was given a high dose of the male hormone testosterone, which js the main 1 ingredient of the'anabolic steroids sold for use on horses. Mares became aggressive, even towards stallions and took on many of the characteristics of stallions. The observable effects were reverseible over time after the dosages ceased, ac-. cording to Miss Turner. The commercially available steroids contain testosterone which has been modified so that some of these major side-effects of admin-

istering male hormones to mares have been eliminated. The other members of the Christchurch party in Sydney are three others from the Veterinary Science department at Lincoln; the visiting professor from Kentucky U.S.A., Professor R. G. Loy, Dr Margaret Evans and Miss Susan Alexander. The sixth member of the party is Christchurch veterinarian, Mr T. B. Taylor. The symposium runs for the whole of this week and was described by Professor Irvine before he left as a forum for the exchange of research information. There have been two earlier symposia, in Cambridge, United Kingdom, California, U.S.A. It is not normally attended by veterinarians in private or government employment but by researchers and academics. who use it as a forum to present work done in the four-year intervals between symposia. For New Zealand veterinarians, one of the major benefits of the Sydney symposium will be a follow-up seminar on equine reproduction to be held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week in Auckland.

Five leading speakers from the Sydney conference will come across to New Zealand on their way home to the United States and Great Britain. Around 100 vets from all over New Zealand are expected to attend the Auckland meeting.

Professor Irvine said work on the reproduction of the horse falls into four areas; the reproductive systems of stallions and mares, the problems of pregnancy in mares and the birth and survival of foals. He said that despite this specialisation, similar to the world of human medicine, treatment of reproductive disorders was often still based "on faith and hot>e.” He said it had long been an observation by veterinarians that the best performed mares on the racetrack had the poorest fertility. ;

To help the racing and thoroughbred industries breed better horses, .work into the problems associated with fertility could : help these better mares Tall pregnant and give birth.