Oral testosterone self-administration in male hamsters

The addiction potential of anabolic steroids remains largely unexplored, He re, we demonstrate voluntary oral testosterone intake in hamsters. Using a 2-bottle choice test, males preferred an aqueous solution of 200 mug/ml tes tosterone over vehicle. However, the taste of testosterone is not h ig h ly preferred. Addition of testosterone at 400 mug/ml increased fluid consumpt ion from the nonpreferred bottle in a 2-bottle choice test, but cholesterol at the same concentration reduced drinking, suggesting that testosterone r eward is not common to all sterols. With food-induced drinking, testosteron e maintained fluid intake when food was withdrawn. These data dem onstrate that oral self-administration of testosterone is reinforcing in hamsters, s uggesting the potential for dependence in human users. Copyright (C) 2001 S . Karger AG. Basel.