In vitro investigation of nandrolone deconoate genotoxicity using alkaline comet assay

Nandrolone decanoate is among the most widely used anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) that are often abused by young people and athletes to improve muscle strength and performance. It is a subjected to control in many countries and so non-medical use is generally illicit. It is known to adversely affect health. Despite the risks of significant side effects, it is commonly abused. It has high dose and long term intake. As a results of literature review, it seems that a few studies have been conducted on the genotoxicity of nandrolone decanoate, which are insufficient. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of nandrolone decanoate on cell viability in V79 Chinese hamster fibroblast cells in a wide range of doses and DNA damage in human lymphocytes at non-cytotoxic doses. The cytotoxicity was determined using MTT assay. Genotoxicity of nandrolone decanoate in human lymphocytes as well as the effect of H2O2-induced oxidative DNA damage was determined by alkaline single cell gel electrophoresis method (Comet assay). Nandrolone decanoate significantly decreased the cell viability in a dose dependent manner at the concentrations higher than 250 μM in V79 cells. IC50 dose was found to be 739 μM. Nandrolone decanoate alone did not lead to DNA damage in the lymphocytes at all studied concentrations (0.5-100 μM). It seemed to significantly reduce oxidative DNA damage at the concentrations between 10-100 μM in a dose-dependent manner, but not to change at the lower concentrations (0.5 and 1 μM). The results of study show that nandrolone decanoate may decrease oxidative stress-induced DNA damage at non-genotoxic doses. In conclusion, the possible antigenotoxicity of nandrolone against the oxidative stress observed in our study may contribute to the current scientific studies in revealing the mechanism of toxicity; however, further research is needed.