Anabolic steroids--action on cellular level.

Although the nature of actions of anabolic steroids is principally that of androgens, it still remains difficult to relate the effects observed to specific cellular processes and to describe them clearly as related to specific mechanisms of action. The dissociation between "anabolic" and "androgenic" actions of a steroid can in part be explained by organ specific patterns of steroid-metabolizing enzymes, which lead to the formation of more or less active compounds in different organs. Some actions of anabolic steroids, particularly that in skeletal muscle are obviously also mediated by interaction of the parent compound or a metabolite with receptors of other steroid classes than androgens, e.g. that of glucocorticoids and/or estrogens.