So, a male with well above average levels of testosterone will see an increase in lean body mass.
lean body mass includes bones, organs, and muscles, correct?

i doubt it has much affect on bones growth.
but what are the affects on organs, smooth muscle, and cardiac muscle growth?

would increased testosterone levels affect cardiac and smooth muscles just as much as skeletal muscle? main question.

i believe skeletal muscles will grow at an increased rate even without stimulus, compared to lower testosterone levels in the body?

thanks.

edit: i should clarify, by without stimulus, i mean without lifting weights in the gym

This post was edited by noob_whacker on Apr 18 2015 03:25pm

Pretty sure bones will grow as well. Most notable in the skull

boners

but on a serious note....

think of the androgen receptor mediated signal transduction pls thx

could you please explain this, in lower level terms?

depends if cardiac and smooth muscle cells express receptors that will bind testosterone. usually there are isoforms for different tissue types.

and i believe test is a nuclear hormone (not 100%) so it wont be expressed on cell surface if that is correct

This post was edited by cloudkicker on Apr 18 2015 04:48pm

i dont know if it does or not, but if so, wouldnt this pose quite an issue for pro bodybuilders?

i know cardiac hypertrophy can be an issue, for sure in one of the valves, but that might not be related to testosterone.

also theres the smooth muscle, if that undergoes abnormal hypertrophy, how harmful can this be? will the effects ever reverse?

This post was edited by noob_whacker on Apr 18 2015 04:50pm

probably more related to the induction of hypertrophy by IGFs and GHs than test, which can sometimes also be elevated in athletes

never really heard of vascular hypertrophy but increased wall thickness and resting tension might lead to elevated blood pressure (increased vascular resistance due to decreased arterial radius)

This post was edited by cloudkicker on Apr 18 2015 04:52pm

hmmmm, i know testosterone increases IGF, not sure if it does to GH as well

Ok just to answer your question
test exerts anabolic effects in cardiac myocytes via the androgen receptor (ofc). Will stimulate canonical signaling pathways, including mTOR to ramp up p synth.
One of the main ways test works in skeletal muscle cells is via increasing satellite cell kinetics. So this mechanism won't take place in other muscle tissues, just skeletal. But it's still anabolic in the others.

As for smooth muscle, eh, I doubt this is as notable if there is hypertrophy occuring. I mean, there's constant turnover of vascular smooth muscle cells anyway right? Plus, testosterone is generally protective for them, which is also why it's typically noted that test/androgens are ameliorative for vascular conditions (or also one of the reasons why, in aging/hypogonadal men, the low test puts them at higher risk for cardiovascular problems).




Yeah androgen receptors are nuclear hormones and mediate most of its effect.
Interestingly, there's also non-genomic signaling pathways via test. For instance, SHBG can activate cAMP/PKA pathways via binding to the cell surface. Or even to directly cause Ca2+ influx via an interaction with certain Ca2+ channels. Pretty cool imo. Everything is so diverse. It's easy to memorize/understand ALL of the canonical signaling of various factors and receptors. What's hard is all the (typically more newly discovered) non-canonical signaling and unforeseen crosstalk