Effects of testosterone enanthate on aggression, risk-taking, competition, mood, and other cognitive domains during 28 days of severe energy deprivation

Abstract

Rationale: Behavioral effects of testosterone depend on dose, acute versus sustained formulation, duration of administration, personality, genetics, and endogenous levels of testosterone. There are also considerable differences between effects of endogenous and exogenous testosterone.

Objectives: This study was the secondary behavioral arm of a registered clinical trial designed to determine if testosterone protects against loss of lean body mass and lower-body muscle function induced by a severe energy deficit typical of sustained military operations.

Methods: Behavioral effects of repeated doses of testosterone on healthy young men whose testosterone was reduced by severe energy deficit were examined. This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-group study. Effects of four weekly intramuscular injections of testosterone enanthate (200 mg/week, N = 24) or matching placebo (N = 26) were evaluated. Determination of sample size was based on changes in lean body mass. Tasks assessing aggression, risk-taking, competition, social cognition, vigilance, memory, executive function, and mood were repeatedly administered.

Results: During a period of artificially induced, low testosterone levels, consistent behavioral effects of administration of exogenous testosterone were not observed.

Conclusions: Exogeneous testosterone enanthate (200 mg/week) during severe energy restriction did not reliably alter the measures of cognition. Study limitations include the relatively small sample size compared to many studies of acute testosterone administration. The findings are specific to healthy males experiencing severe energy deficit and should not be generalized to effects of other doses, formulations, or acute administration of endogenous testosterone or studies conducted with larger samples using tests of cognitive function designed to detect specific effects of testosterone.

Keywords: Body composition; Energy restriction; Executive function; Fatigue; Food deprivation; Hormones; Memory.