Research
Hormonal
Suprapharmacologic doses of AAS increase muscle mass and strength in eugonadal men through mechanisms involving androgen receptor upregulation, satellite cell activation, and potentially anticatabolic effects, rather than just increased protein synthesis.
The muscle-building effect of high-dose steroids in healthy men is not fully understood but likely involves increasing the number of androgen receptors and activating satellite cells, rather than just speeding up protein synthesis.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Satellite cells contain androgen receptors (Doumit et al., 1996). AAS action within these cells to stimulate proliferation may represent an important mechanism of AAS action... Recent studies in multiple species show that androgen receptor can be upregulated by exposure to AAS... Evidence from animal models also supports this possibility [anticatabolic effects].
Why this rating
The paper states the mechanism is 'surprisingly confusing' and 'in its infancy', citing animal models and some human biopsies.
Source
Anabolic Steroids
Cynthia M. Kuhn · Recent Progress in Hormone Research · 2002
DOI 10.1210/rp.57.1.411
narrative_reviewCited 166×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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