Research
Hormonal
Anabolic steroids exert their effects through multiple mechanisms including androgen receptor modulation, anticatabolic effects via glucocorticoid receptor interference, and non-genomic pathways.
Anabolic steroids work through complex hormonal pathways, including receptor modulation and anticatabolic effects, which contribute to muscle growth and training motivation.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Modulation of androgen receptor expression appears to be key to partial dissociation... An anticatabolic effect, by interfering with glucocorticoid receptor expression, remains an attractive hypothesis. Behavioural changes by non-genomic and genomic pathways probably help motivate training.
Why this rating
The paper describes these mechanisms as established or attractive hypotheses.
Source
Pharmacology of anabolic steroids
Andrew T. Kicman · British Journal of Pharmacology · 2008
DOI 10.1038/bjp.2008.165
narrative_reviewCited 578×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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