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21.03.2014

Bolandiol: the cheapest SARM was marketed as a prohormone

Bolandiol
Those familiar with anabolic steroids tend to think that SARMs are complex, difficult to obtain compounds, patented by pharmaceutical companies, and moreover of which the side effects are not known. This picture is not quite accurate. There are also a few non-patented SARMs with a surprisingly simple molecular structure that are readily available – and of which it's easy to list the side effects. May we introduce bolandiol?

The structural formula of bolandiol – scientific name 19-nortestosterone-3-beta,17-beta-diol – is shown above. A search of older medical literature reveals that the stuff used to be marketed as an anabolic steroid. In the late 1990s precursor supplements containing bolandiol were marketed with the claim that bolandiol converted into nandrolone in the body.

These supplements were not a success. Which was not that surprising, as you have to inject bolandiol, not swallow it. Enterprising self-medicators who mixed their own injectable bolandiol preparations often reported satisfying results.

In 2004 bolandiol disappeared from the market when the American government decided to classify pro-hormones as anabolic steroids. Bolandiol has never been legal in the EU.

After it had been banned, researchers did animal studies and discovered that bolandiol is a SARM. If you inject bolandiol into male lab animals it stimulates muscle growth, but has almost no effect on the prostate. So bolandiol is an anabolic steroid, but one with hardly any androgenic side effects. We've written about these studies before.

We came across a study in which researchers at the Beckman Research Institute in the US gave castrated rats bolandiol and DHT [chemical structure below on the right]. DHT has little anabolic effect in humans because the substance is quickly neutralised. DHT does have strong androgenic side effects in humans. In small lab animals such as mice and rats DHT has noticeable anabolic effects - and strong androgenic side effects.

The researchers gave their animals implants that released either DHT or bolandiol in an experiment lasting 6 weeks.

The researchers' main aim was to find out whether they could observe a difference between the effects of a classic anabolic-androgenic steroid [DHT] and of a SARM [bolandiol] on the genetic activity in tissue containing androgen receptors. They did find differences, but for steroids users the effects of DHT and bolandiol on more everyday markers are perhaps just as interesting.

The figures below are self-explanatory. Bolandiol [Bol] has no effect on the prostate and seminal vesicles. These are markers for androgenic activity. Bolandiol does lead to growth of the Levator Ani muscle. Growth of this muscle is a classic indicator of anabolic activity.

Control = intact rats; ORX = castrated rats.


Those familiar with anabolic steroids tend to think that SARMs are complex, difficult to obtain compounds, patented by pharmaceutical companies, and moreover of which the side effects are not known. This picture is not quite accurate. There are also a few non-patented SARMs with a surprisingly simple molecular structure that are readily available – and of which it's easy to list the side effects. May we introduce bolandiol?


Those familiar with anabolic steroids tend to think that SARMs are complex, difficult to obtain compounds, patented by pharmaceutical companies, and moreover of which the side effects are not known. This picture is not quite accurate. There are also a few non-patented SARMs with a surprisingly simple molecular structure that are readily available – and of which it's easy to list the side effects. May we introduce bolandiol?


The figure above shows that bolandiol restored the bone density of the castrated rats to almost the same level as that of the intact rats. The anabolic effects of bolandiol were almost half as big as those of DHT.

The figure below shows the relationship between the effect of DHT and the effect of bolandiol on genes in the prostate and muscle, bone and other tissues. As you can see, the effect of bolandiol on muscle tissue is three-quarters that of the effect of DHT. On the other hand, the effect of bolandiol on the prostate is only a fraction of the effect that DHT has on the gland.


Those familiar with anabolic steroids tend to think that SARMs are complex, difficult to obtain compounds, patented by pharmaceutical companies, and moreover of which the side effects are not known. This picture is not quite accurate. There are also a few non-patented SARMs with a surprisingly simple molecular structure that are readily available – and of which it's easy to list the side effects. May we introduce bolandiol?


"We are using this model to test several SARMs we have discovered in our lab", the researchers write. "We also plan to extend this model to include female tissues, such as the ovary, uterus, and mammary glands. Such experiments will increase the breadth of the selectivity model and will improve the preclinical evaluation of SARMs for use in women as well."

What did we just read? Did the researchers really say "several SARMs we have discovered in our lab"? We'll be watching these people closely...

Source:
Andrology. 2013 Jan;1(1):29-36.

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