HISTOPATHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF SUBCHRONIC ADMINISTRATION OF OXANDROLONE IN CARDIAC, SKELETAL MUSCLE AND SPLEEN OF AGED FEMALE RATS

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INTRODUCTION: Sarcopenia is a prevalent condition among elderly women,associated with functional decline and reduced quality of life. Given the need foreffective therapeutic alternatives, anabolic androgenic steroids, such asoxandrolone, have garnered attention due to their potential to enhance muscletrophism. Although its clinical application remains not fully elucidated, preliminarystudies have reported promising outcomes. Nevertheless, further investigation iswarranted to assess the efficacy and safety of this intervention, as the use ofsteroids may be associated with cardiovascular and other systemic alterations.OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the histopathological effects of repeated oxandroloneadministration on the cardiac muscle, skeletal muscle, and spleen of aged femaleWistar rats. METHODS: Twenty-four aged female Wistar rats (20 months old)were randomly assigned to two experimental groups: oxandrolone (0.05mg/kg/day) and vehicle (corn oil). Treatments were administered once daily by oralgavage, at the same time each day, for 28 consecutive days. The selected dosecorresponds to the human equivalent dose (10 mg/day) commonly used forsarcopenia prevention. Throughout the experiment and data analysis, researchersremained blinded to group allocation to minimize bias. On day 29, animals wereeuthanized, and the heart, soleus muscle, and spleen were collected, fixed inbuffered formalin, and processed for histopathological examination. Tissuesections were evaluated under light microscopy using a standardized scoringsystem. Data were analyzed using Student’s t-test, with statistical significance setat p<0.05. RESULTS: Oxandrolone treatment did not induce histopathologicalalterations in skeletal muscle fibers, which maintained fascicular organization andperipheral nuclei, with no evidence of atrophy, increased vascularization, orinflammatory infiltration. Likewise, cardiac tissue showed no signs of hydropic,hyaline, or fatty degeneration, cytoplasmic vacuolization, congestion, hemorrhage,necrosis, atrophy, inflammatory infiltration, or peripheral nuclei. Nohistopathological changes were observed in the spleen. Scoring analysisconfirmed the absence of significant differences between the experimental groups.CONCLUSION: Repeated oxandrolone administration in aged female rats did notresult in histopathological changes in the analyzed tissues.