What is Masteron? Learn the mechansim of action of drostanolone

Summary

In this engaging exploration, Chad Son, the lead pharmacist at Pharmacy Republic and Nebula Health, dives into the world of Masteron or drostanolone propionate. Commonly linked with bodybuilding and anabolic steroids, Masteron has a unique pharmacology and a controversial history. It originates from dihydrotestosterone and has undergone chemical modifications to enhance its anabolic benefits while reducing side effects associated with estrogen conversion. The video provides an in-depth analysis of its chemical structures, its limited but focused use in breast cancer treatment, and its popularity in bodybuilding for cutting purposes. Son also highlights the importance of understanding potential side effects, the impact on hormonal balance, and the necessity for safe usage to prevent liver toxicity and cardiovascular issues.

Highlights

• Masteron stems from dihydrotestosterone and is chemically modified to enhance benefits and reduce side effects 🎨.
• The video emphasizes Masteron's journey from aiding breast cancer treatment to becoming a bodybuilding staple 🏋️.
• It illustrates chemical structures and how they influence Masteron's behavior in the body 🔬.
• Masteron doesn’t convert to estrogen; hence, users avoid estrogen-related issues like water retention 🌊.
• Understanding the mechanism helps in avoiding oral steroids to prevent liver damage, promoting safer injection methods 💉.

Key Takeaways

• Masteron, a derivative of dihydrotestosterone, is popular in bodybuilding for its anabolic qualities without estrogen conversion 🚀.
• Originally used in treating breast cancer, Masteron is favored for not causing water retention and gynecomastia 💪.
• By understanding its structure, users can better appreciate its benefits and navigate potential side effects, such as potential cardiovascular issues and liver toxicity ⚠️.
• Despite its anabolic effects, responsible use is crucial to minimize risks, especially since it's no longer officially manufactured by major pharmaceutical companies 📉.
• Knowing the history and pharmacology aids in making informed decisions on usage and harm reduction ⚕️.

Overview

In this enlightening video, Chad Son, a lead pharmacist, delves into the fascinating realm of Masteron, also known as drostanolone propionate. This steroid, popular in the bodybuilding world, has intriguing pharmacological properties that make it stand out in the realm of anabolic steroids. Originally associated with breast cancer treatment, it offers a unique perspective on its benefits and potential risks. Masteron functions by enhancing anabolic effects without converting to estrogen, thus avoiding unpleasant side effects.

The video creatively breaks down the structure of testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, and their modified forms. It explains the difference between these molecules and how Masteron's unique modifications confer additional benefits, such as improved muscle growth without adverse estrogenic effects. This detailed analysis helps in understanding why Masteron is so highly valued in bodybuilding, especially for achieving a lean, cut look without the excess water retention commonly associated with steroid use.

Chad emphasizes responsible usage and the significance of harm reduction, particularly because Masteron is no longer produced by major pharmaceutical companies. As a result, it highlights the vital need for safe practices and awareness of potential complications, such as liver toxicity and cardiovascular issues. By comprehending the science and history behind Masteron, users can make informed decisions that protect their health while harnessing the steroid's benefits.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:30: Introduction and Overview The chapter provides an introduction and overview by Chad Son, the lead pharmacist at Pharmacy Republic and Nebula Health. The focus of the discussion is on Masteron, also known as drostanolone propionate or by its full chemical name, 2-alpha-methyl dihydrotestosterone. Although Masteron is commonly associated with a certain context, further details are likely to follow in the chapter.
• 01:30 - 05:00: Chemical Structure and Pharmacology of Masteron This chapter explores the chemical structure and pharmacology of Masteron, particularly in the context of bodybuilding and the use of anabolic steroids. It highlights the drug's intriguing history and examines the mechanisms by which it operates. Additionally, the chapter addresses the stigmas associated with anabolic steroids, emphasizing the importance of understanding their effects and side effects for users.
• 05:00 - 10:00: Hormonal Conversion and Mechanism of Action The chapter discusses Nebula Health's harm reduction clinic aimed at individuals using anabolic steroids. Although the clinic does not encourage the use of steroids, it provides a service to monitor the health of individuals by checking their blood and ensuring their safety. The clinic recognizes the widespread use of anabolic steroids and offers these services despite not endorsing steroid use.
• 10:00 - 15:00: Masteron as a Pro Drug and Its Implications The chapter discusses the chemical structure of Masteron (drostanalone propionate) and its relation to its parent molecule, dihydrotestosterone, which is a metabolite of testosterone. It emphasizes how the unique structure of Masteron provides pharmacological benefits.
• 15:00 - 19:00: Historical Use and Development for Breast Cancer This chapter discusses the historical development and use of Masteron, or drostanalone propionate, particularly in the treatment of breast cancer. It begins by examining the structural chemical formula of Masteron and its relation to dihydrotestosterone, which is a metabolite of testosterone. The focus is on how the understanding of its chemical structure helps in maximizing benefits while minimizing side effects.
• 19:00 - 22:00: Bodybuilding Use and Effects The chapter titled 'Bodybuilding Use and Effects' delves into the chemical structure of testosterone. It describes testosterone as comprising a series of carbon rings, specifically three six-sided carbon rings linked to a five-sided carbon ring. The structure also includes a double bond attached to an oxygen and a hydroxyl group (OH). The summary hints that the chapter might explore how chemists represent these chemical structures through structural formulas.
• 22:00 - 35:00: Side Effects and Health Risks The chapter discusses the importance of identifying carbon atoms in testosterone, highlighting the introduction of a numbering system for this purpose. It specifically notes the significance of carbon atoms number one, two, three, four, and five, explaining how these play crucial roles, particularly carbon atom number two, in relation to masteron. The chapter indicates the relevance of these carbon atoms in the context of enzymatic action.
• 35:00 - 40:00: Conclusion and Recommendations The chapter discusses the significance of carbon 17 in the context of anabolic steroids, highlighting its role in enhancing the duration of action through the addition of ester chains. Additionally, it touches upon the biochemical transformation of testosterone into a more potent androgen, dihydrotestosterone, via the enzyme five alpha reductase.

What is Masteron? Learn the mechansim of action of drostanolone Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hi welcome back my name is chad son i am the lead pharmacist for pharmacy republic and nebula health today we're going to look at masteron or drostanalone proprionate or to give it its full chemical title to alpha-mephal dihydrotestosterone okay even though masteron is associated but commonly associated with
• 00:30 - 01:00 the bodybuilding world and the world of anabolic steroids it has a very interesting history and its pharmacology is really really interesting which is why we're going to talk about it today so even though it does have this background and there is a certain stigma attached to anabolic steroids it is good to know what if you are taking this how these drugs actually work what the side effects are and how you can stay
• 01:00 - 01:30 safe following on from that we also offer at nebula health a harm reduction clinic we do know we are aware that the use of anabolic steroids is pre is is widespread okay and a lot of people are taking them and they're not getting monitored so we offer a service where we can offer a harm reduction clinic where we can check your blood make sure you're safe we don't condone taking anabolic steroids but our purpose
• 01:30 - 02:00 is to make sure that you are safe okay back to masteron so we'll start off by looking at the chemical formula of masterone or dross standalone proprionate and how it relates to its parent molecule dihydrotestosterone which itself is a metabolite of testosterone so we'll see how its unique structure confers benefits pharmacological
• 02:00 - 02:30 benefits to masteron and at the same time reducing side effects okay so uh let's begin by looking at the chem structural chemical formula of masteron or drostanalone proprionate and we can see how it relates to its parent molecule dihydrotestosterone which in turn relates to its parent molecule testosterone so dihydrotestosterone is a metabolite of testosterone let's turn your attention
• 02:30 - 03:00 to testosterone molecule first so as you can see it's made up of a series of carbon rings we have this classic structure of three six-sided carbon rings attached to a five-sided carbon ring okay notice also we have a double bond here attached to an oxygen and an o h group here so when chemists started drawing these structural formulas
• 03:00 - 03:30 they needed to identify carbon atoms within it so what they did they introduced a numbering system so for testosterone we know that this is carbon atom number one this is two carbon atom number two will play an important role in this video in relation to masteron then three which is where the double bond in four and five again very important carbon um uh these these carbons are very important and you'll see why later on in the video because enzymes actually act
• 03:30 - 04:00 on them and carbon 17 and carbon 17 is very important because this is where we can add groups in particular we can add ester chains to this oxygen here to increase the duration of action of anabolic steroids okay so testosterone when it's in the body gets converted to a more potent androgen or male hormone called dihydrotestosterone via the five alpha reductize enzyme so the end name of the
• 04:00 - 04:30 enzyme gives away where this act this enzyme actually works on the testosterone molecule five alpha reductase yes you've guessed it axon carbon atom number five so this is a molecule of dihydrotestosterone and this is a molecule of testosterone so it's a case of spot the difference what is the difference between testosterone and dht dht is a short form of dihydrotestosterone which we'll be referring to from now on uh so you can see that we still have this double bond uh the
• 04:30 - 05:00 oxygen attached at carbon number three but what we can see is a double bond between carbons number four and five has disappeared everything else remains the same so testosterone when it's in the body can also be metabolized to estrogen via the aromatase enzyme okay so here we have a molecule of oestrogen again it's a three-sided sorry it's a it contains three six-sided carbon chain attached to
• 05:00 - 05:30 a five-sided uh carbon chain uh carbon ring sorry uh so again if we look at the difference between testosterone and estrogen we can see that we've lost that double bond on carbon atom number three with the oxygen attached we've got a single bond but that double bond is jumped inside that first carbon ring and we get this aromatization effect so if you remember back to your a-level chemistry amortization is kind of like looks like
• 05:30 - 06:00 that and at the same time we've knocked off a methyl group so another point to be in mind when we look at these chemical structural formulas uh these little inverted triangles uh they actually represent a methyl group such as that okay so whenever you see that drawn it resignifies a methyl group okay so testosterone can be converted to estrogen okay so the aromatized enzyme can act on
• 06:00 - 06:30 testosterone to produce estrogen because it acts on this double bond to throw that in remember this double bond is still here so we get this process of amortization because we've lost this double bond dht cannot form eastern and this plays a significant role with the effects that masteron has so how does masteron or drostanalone relate to dihydrotestosterone this was his parent
• 06:30 - 07:00 molecule so what is the difference between drostanalone and dht and it's all to do with carbon number two at carbon number two we've added this methyl group and this confers the benefits that we find with masteron it gives it a greater anabolic effect it doesn't act on the estrogen receptor because its parent molecule is uh dihydrotestosterone so it doesn't get converted to estrogen
• 07:00 - 07:30 okay so this is the uh a molecule of drop standalone okay but masteron is actually made from drop standalone proprionate it's an ester so if we were to inject this this would be absorbed straight away and have a very short duration of action so in another video we explained why these steroids have attached ester side chains because we could control the rate of release the longer the chain the longer
• 07:30 - 08:00 duration the it becomes more fat soluble so it's not soluble in the blood it takes longer to diffuse from the site of injection to the blood where once it's in the blood it's a rapid effect the esterase cleaves off that ester side chain and then this uh whatever uh steroid it is for example drop standalone will then act on the androgen receptor to produce its effect so what do we uh so
• 08:00 - 08:30 to this two alpha methyl dihydrotestosterone molecule to make it longer acting we add an ester and we add the uh proprionate the ester the proper the carbolic carboxylic acid ester propanoic acid to the draw standalone to produce masteron okay so once we have that ester side chain here once it gets injected it takes it increases the half-life to two days
• 08:30 - 09:00 okay so we have we've increased its duration so we inject it into our body it diffuses from the site off in uh of the injection into the blood that's the rate limiting step okay so we've controlled that and we've made it so that the half-life is two days okay once it's in the bulb once it's in the blood you get ester raises acting on this bond yeah this is rapid once it's in the
• 09:00 - 09:30 blood to produce drostanalone here which acts on the android receptor which gives the effect so this drostandalum proprionate or masteron is actually a pro drug which means it doesn't produce an effect on its own it needs the body to act on it to produce the active ingredient the active drug so rosalind proprionate uh by adding this propanoid acid ester increases its duration of action
• 09:30 - 10:00 once it's in the blood it gets converted to its active form draws standalone which then acts on the androgen receptor to produce the effects of the anabolic effects of masteron okay so we mentioned that it's unique uh chemical structure plays an important role with effects with regards to its pharmaco pharmacological act actions so this
• 10:00 - 10:30 methyl group at carbon atom number two gives masteron an increased anabolic effect and it decreases the metabolism of this molecule by 3 hydroxy steroid dehydrogenase in the liver so it has an increased action okay so just coming back to this uh the decrease in the metabolism by the liver so when chemists were first looking at testosterone they understood that when
• 10:30 - 11:00 you injected it it has a very short duration of action so their role was to try and increase the half-life of these drugs so one of the things they did let's go back to our testosterone molecule they added a methyl group to carbon 17. so this was referred to 17 alpha alkalization so this was great i mean we had we were able to inject testosterone and it was able to last a long time because when we added this methyl group here it could not be metabolized by the three hydroxy
• 11:00 - 11:30 sterile dehydrogenase enzymes in the liver the only problem was it then stayed a long while in the body and it became toxic to the liver the 17 methyl testosterone was an oral tablet so this is why we always recommend never to take any steroid orally because it will be hepatotoxic that is it will destroy your liver okay that's why we inject or we use a gel so
• 11:30 - 12:00 we avoid the first past metabolism first past metabolism refers to anything that we ingest drug food will have to bite go to the liver first before it enters circulation and then we expose the liver to a lot of toxins so that's why we always inject so if you ever have the chance always avoid oral testosterone preparations okay so again going back to the benefits that this
• 12:00 - 12:30 method group of carbon 2 gives master on so it has an increased anabolic effect generally overall it has a moderate anabolic effect but what it does it has a favorable ratio of its anabolic effect compared to its androgenic effect the androgenic effect refers to the side effects we experience with steroids such as acne oily skin body or facial hair might some people might like it but
• 12:30 - 13:00 i don't know uh sometimes you do end up looking like a rug so again horses for courses uh and it can increase uh or speed up male pattern baldness so masteron has a favorable ratio of the anabolic the growth building effects and the androgenetic side effects associated with steroids it also reduces catabolism i that is a degradation of amino acid and
• 13:00 - 13:30 another important feature of mastodon was that it could actually inhibit estrogen receptors we already know now that it cannot be converted to estrogen and this is what we're going to look at now what masteron was originally used for so let's just have a quick history of masteron so masteron was originally uh synthesized or drostanolon proprionet was originally synthesized by the uh the pharmaceutical firm syntex in
• 13:30 - 14:00 1959. so it was a while before it was actually released onto the market syntax then uh began a collaboration with lilly who agreed to to share some of the research and development costs uh with the condition that they will get sole distribution in the us and they sold uh drostama proprionate as drawban while uh syntax would be able to market in other
• 14:00 - 14:30 parts of the world and master on was the brand name for drosol and proprionate in belgium portugal and in the uk it was known as master rom okay so one of the first uh license indications that the f fda gave drawstrom and proprionate was in the treatment of advanced inoperable breast cancer in most post-menopausal women so a lot of these cancers are driven by
• 14:30 - 15:00 hormones they have an abundance they have more receptors on this surface to feed the cancer in the case of breast cancer there were more estrogen receptors okay so drostalenon proprionate was used for its ability to block these receptors okay and the way it did this it was it was found that testosterone
• 15:00 - 15:30 could bind to androgen receptors and these androgen receptors are found all over the body even in the breast tissue okay and so uh when testosterone binds to the android receptor in the breast tissue it actually decreases tissue proliferation which is actually a good thing in in help in treating cancer researchers have also found that testosterone is even though its role in breast cancer has been superseded by other
• 15:30 - 16:00 more advanced treatments researchers recently have found that it can actually help prevent cancer and actually d and if cancer is there actually decrease its proliferation so the only problem with testosterone is it can have all these effects on the androgen receptor but as we see it can also be aromatized to estrogen which can then act on the eastern receptors that are an abundance
• 16:00 - 16:30 on these cancer cells so usually what what happens is testosterone when it was used to be treating uh used for treatment for breast cancer it would be given with an aromatized enzyme inhibitor such as an astrozole something like that and that will block the conversion of testosterone to estrogen so you block this enzyme so one of the drugs that we use is anastrozole so research has found that this is one
• 16:30 - 17:00 of the actions that testosterone had but what made uh drosterlin proprionate better was that it had that same action but it was not a substrate for this amortized enzyme so it could not be converted to estrogen so we got all those protective benefits um by the inhibition of the estrogen receptors reduce tissue proliferation and we've
• 17:00 - 17:30 cancer we also go cachexia or weight loss so it would help with the anabolism so it would help in that respect as well predominantly it was work on blocking that estrogen receptor inhibiting the receptors and so you wouldn't need to give the aromatase enzyme blocker so that was one of the advantages of uh masteron and that was one of its first indications i think it was in 1961. it is no longer
• 17:30 - 18:00 used for breast cancer and i think in 1990 the license was removed so you cannot no pharmaceutical manufacturer actually manufactures it for any licensed use however we know that its use is still occurring in the bodybuilding world and a number of reasons that a lot of bodybuilders use masteron is particularly for the effects that it was
• 18:00 - 18:30 used for in breast cancer it doesn't get converted to estrogen it blocks the effects of estrogen so when we we don't have the estrogenic side effects so we're definitely not getting any gynecomastia we're not getting any water attention and so when bodybuilders took it they found they get they got a more lean cut look because you're getting the anabolic effects without the aromatization to estrogen which causes that bloated water
• 18:30 - 19:00 attention look so it was used for cutting okay so coming on to side effects now of masteron okay so even though it was used for women in breast cancer one of the reasons it was used was because of its relatively low androgenic side effects remember when we take a steroid we're going to get those classics like acne oily skin facial hair body hair male pattern baldness this is
• 19:00 - 19:30 fine in a man but in a woman it's disastrous and this is known as viralization we can also get clitoma galli which is enlargement of the clitoris so it was important to have a drug which would have the benefits of blocking the estrogen receptors while at the same time we would not get a lot of viralization and masterone or drosonium proprionate ticked all those boxes however they were it was given in large doses and so women did suffer a degree of
• 19:30 - 20:00 viralization okay as with uh any steroid uh we will suppress the on natural production of uh testosterone so one of the side effects is uh the message will not be sent from the pituitary gland to the testes via lh and fsh to produce testosterone and it can have a negative impact on sperm okay because lh is not being sent
• 20:00 - 20:30 by the testes again we discussed all the the hypothalamic pituitary testicular axis in another video so just go to our playlist and have a look for that so when we take exogenous testosterone or testosterone from the outside or steroid from outside which occupies the androgen receptor we actually can potentially block that and we can actually cause our own hypothalamic pituitary testicular axis to turn off but again
• 20:30 - 21:00 we once we stop taking it it can bounce back after a few months again we've already covered the other side effects uh which oily skin the androgenic side effects oily skin acne increasing the development of male pattern baldness other side effects potentially could involve cardiovascular issues but this is more related to the dosage okay so again we have an anabolic effect okay so
• 21:00 - 21:30 this is very important for a lot of people in the bodybuilding world to appreciate so when you have an anabolic effect you build muscle okay your heart is a muscle and with regards to your heart it's not a case of bigger is better because your heart is a hollow chamber and it needs to be filled with blood so if we increase the size of our muscles by taking too much of a steroid then what we do is say this is the heart and if
• 21:30 - 22:00 the muscle increases then the hollow chamber which fills with blood gradually gets smaller so we've got a very powerful heart but it can't fill as much they're very very dangerous so this is known as a hypertrophy of the the cardiac muscle and this will cause a lot of problems okay and again it's more due to dosages okay so you have to be very very careful there has been some reports that uh also
• 22:00 - 22:30 again when we take steroids far in excess it can have a role it can play uh have a negative impact on our cholesterol levels it can decrease our hdl their good cholesterol increase our ldl the bad cholesterol with regards to the liver so long as we inject and mastron is an anabolic steroid which we inject then the the the chances of liver toxicity are reduced because
• 22:30 - 23:00 again with we're avoiding first pass metabolism and also we haven't got a case of 17 alpha alkalization taking place because we don't have this methyl group on carbon number 17. okay so to finish off again it's also very important to bear in mind in particular with harm reduction uh a home reduction message we know that you know like we last saw masteron produced by an official
• 23:00 - 23:30 pharmaceutical company in the late 1990s or early 19th i can't remember in the 1990s at least so every single case of masteron being produced has been produced by non-registered companies or companies who are producing it for an unlicensed indication okay so whenever something is produced by an official pharmaceutical company there are stringent checks there are
• 23:30 - 24:00 massive amounts of quality control and quality insurance procedures that are done and it's important especially with regards to injections because that vial has to be sterile there can be no bacteria present in that vial and if you don't have those strict quality control or quantity assurance procedures then you cannot be guaranteed what you're injecting okay but on the whole master on as long as it's injected is
• 24:00 - 24:30 is not toxic to the liver it has a moderate anabolic effect it doesn't have any estrogenic side effects so we don't see those uh there's no chance of gynecomastia with master on and you don't get the water retention uh fluid retention uh possibly lower incidence of the androgenic side effects okay so okay so that is
• 24:30 - 25:00 that's a brief overview of masteron a very interesting molecule as you agree so we've covered a lot in this video we've looked at the structural formulas so it's always good to know i have a just a rudimentary understanding of how these drugs were formed their history and you know like try and get familiar with the testosterone molecule you can see how modifications are made and how certain modifications confer certain benefits and reduce certain side effects
• 25:00 - 25:30 so i've hoped you i hope you enjoyed this video if you have give us a like if you haven't done so already please subscribe and if you have any questions just put them in the comments and i'll try and get back to you okay thank you bye