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Urinary Excretion of Steroid Metabolites after Chronic Androstenedione Ingestion

Exercise Biochemistry Laboratory (G.A.B., D.S.K.), Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011; and South Dakota State University (M.D.V.), Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, Brookings, South Dakota 57007

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Douglas S. King, Ph.D., Department of Health and Human Performance, 248 Forker Building, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011. E-mail: dsking{at}iastate.edu.

Urinary steroid excretion after androstenedione intake has been examined after a single dose of 50 mg and single doses of 100 or 300 mg/d for 7 d. We evaluated the effects of 28 d of 100 mg three times a day (t.i.d.) androstenedione intake on urinary steroid excretion. Twenty healthy men, ages 30–39 yr (33.5 ± 0.6), consumed 100 mg androstenedione t.i.d. or placebo for 28 d. Urine samples were analyzed for testosterone, epitestosterone, androsterone, and etiocholanolone via HPLC/tandem mass spectrometry on d 0 and 28. Androstenedione intake increased (P < 0.05) urinary testosterone 35.1 ± 10.5 ng/ml vs. 251.6 ± 87.5 ng/ml, epitestosterone 35.3 ± 8.8 ng/ml vs. 99.7 ± 28.7 ng/ml, androsterone 2,102 ± 383 ng/ml vs. 15,767 ± 3,358 ng/ml, and etiocholanolone 1,698 ± 409 ng/ml vs. 11,329 ± 2,656 ng/ml (means ± SE). Although the testosterone to epitestosterone ratio (T/E) tended to increase with androstenedione intake (1.2 ± 0.3 vs. 4.0 ± 1.6; P = 0.12), only one subject had a urinary T/E greater than the current Olympic criteria (>6.0) for a positive drug test. Chronic intake of 100 mg androstenedione t.i.d. increases the urinary excretion of steroid metabolites. Due to inconsistent increases in the T/E ratio, the T/E ratio may not effectively detect androstenedione use.