Mechanism of steroids

The effect of anabolic steroids on muscle mass is caused in at least two ways:

• first, they increase the productin of proteins,




• second, they reduce recovery time by blocking the effects of stress hormone cortisol on muscle tissue, so that catabolism of muscle is greatly reduced.
  

Anabolic steroids also affect the number of cells that develop into fat-storage cells, by favouring cellular differentiation into muscle cells instead.