SYNTHETIC ANDROGENS EFFECT ON SURVIVAL RATES OF LABORATORY ANIMALS WITH THE EXPERIMENTAL TUMOR CACHEXIA
Cachexia syndrome is a pathological weight loss, usually due to an ongoing disease. The anorexia-cachexia syndrome manifests itself in a decrease in the mass of skeletal muscles and adipose tissue as a result of less food consumption at patients with cancer. Tumor cachexia is characterized by a complex imbalance of metabolic processes in the patient organism. Currently appetite stimulation in cachexia syndrome is being studied in several drugs (thalidomide, ghrelin, amino acids). In addition, anti-cachexic drugs can be anabolic steroids that stimulate cellular respiration and enhance oxidative phosphorylation. Anabolic steroids include androgens. For the most part, androgens enhance the synthesis of nucleic acids and proteins, contribute to weight gain and energy storage. According to the actions shown, androgens can be used in practice as a potential anti-cachexic drug. Therefore, it was decided to study the effect of androgens on experimental cancer cachexia. The experiment used female white mongrel rats that were kept in standard vivarium conditions. The androgens effect on experimental cancer cachexia was investigated. A model of cancer cachexia was reproduced in laboratory animals (white rats) with ovarian cancer (n=60) by combined injection of L-thyroxine at a dose of 200 mcg/100 g per day and triiodothyronine at a dose of 100 mcg/100 g per day, starting 5 days before inoculation of tumor cells and within 5 days after inoculation. The cachexic form of the tumor process occurred in 53.3% of laboratory animals. An equal half of this group of laboratory animals (n = 16) received oxymetalon at a dosage of 0.5 mg per 100 g of laboratory animal weight subcutaneously for 3 days. Oxymetholon acted as the study androgen in the experiment. The use of oxymetalon resulted in an increase in life expectancy (+36.7%) in the group of laboratory animals receiving oxymetalon. The clinical effect of anabolic steroids is characterized by the appetite increase, an increase in body weight, and an improvement in the general health of patients.