
Originally Posted by
BASK8KACE
The steroids do not produce the sour smell; metabolized proteins produce it (indirectly). If you ingest an excessive amount of amino acids (or protein) as do most serious steroid users, then the following occurs:
Proteins are long strings of amino acids. When proteins are metabolized, or broken down, they are converted to their building blocks, namely amino acids. Amino acids are composed of a carboxyl group (COOH), a hydrogen (H) atom, a variable side chain (the distinguishing feature among amino acids), and an amino group (NH2) all attached to what is called an alpha carbon atom.
When amino acids are metabolized, the amino group comes off yielding ammonia (NH4+). Ammonia is toxic to the body and has two fates, both which pass through the liver. In the liver certain enzymes can use ammonia in the biosynthesis of new amino acids, nucleotides (the backbones of DNA and RNA), and other biological amines (nitrogen containing compounds). The other fate of ammonia is excretion through the conversion of ammonia to urea. Unpleasant as it might seem, one of the major roles of our skin is excretion of urea. Therefore the exercise induced "ammonia smell" is produced partly due to excretion of urea with perspiration. A BACTERIA that resides on the skin and uses an enzyme UREASE breaks down urea (which is excreted in our sweat) into carbon dioxide and ammonia.
The reaction is: urease urea + H20 -----> CO2 + 2 NH3
The smell is produced from this reaction.