Help me with my home work!

[Philliagorillia]

OK guys im on my last **** question here and i dont really know how to answer this one beause they dont say weather its anabolics or cortal steroids so im rally confused. OK here is the question,

"discuss drugs that effect steroid and sterol synthesis and their therapeutic applications..

[Spyder]

i dont know if this helps, but re: sterol synthesis ...

The effects of insulin on the synthesis of sterols and fatty acids and on the activity of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase, a rate-limiting enzyme for sterol synthesis, were studied in mammalian cells grown in culture. While in some established cell lines sterol synthesis was not affected significantly by the hormone, in the nonpermanent human and animal cells the synthesis of lipids, especially that of sterols, as well as the activity of the reductase were stimulated following an incubation with insulin in a medium containing serum albumin for a few hours or longer. These effects of insulin were also demonstrable in the presence of solvent-extracted serum, which itself increases sterol synthesis and reductase activity. In medium containing whole serum insulin was ineffective. Addition of glucose decreased sterol synthesis as well as reductase activity. The effects of insulin were prevented by cyclo-heximide and are probably due to an increased synthesis of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase or of a protein that regulates its activity.
Source: http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/71/6/2174

[Spyder]

you might also want to try the National Library of Medicine.

Effects of some clinically encountered drugs on steroid synthesis and degradation.
Elias AN, Gwinup G. Publication Types: Review
PMID: 6247603 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[Spyder]

Lastly, Steroid synthesis inhibition with ketoconazole and its effect upon the regulation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal system in healthy humans can be found here: http://www.acnp.org/sciweb/journal/N...60/default.htm