Athletes, drug detection

Holt, R.I.G. (2009) Detecting growth hormone abuse in athletes. Drug Testing and Analysis, 1, DOI 10.1002/dta.l059. 

Despite measures such as regular screenings and threats of suspensions, some athletes continue to take risks and consume these banned drugs. It is clear that to wrestle with cases of banned drugs requires better detection... 

Figure 1.1 Pharmacologist Dr. Donald H. Gatlin sits in front of an LC/MS/MS system, an instrument used for detecting drugs from urine samples, at the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory. Gatlin is noted for developing a breakthrough testthat detects the illegal steroid, tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), taken by athletes to enhance performance.

This technique has found great application in (orenaic science, e.g. in the detection of drugs in athletes or racehorses,... 

How heavy this responsibility is, resting on the shoulders of the analytical chemist He is the one who, in the first place, is responsible for the forced closing of a dioxin-delinquent waste incineration plant, for the approval of a new non-persistent pesticide, for the demotion of an athlete from his Olympic title for having used illegal drugs, for the identification of a criminal by the traces of gunpowder on his hands, for the quantification of environmental contaminants, for the detection of diabetes, or the detection of poisoning, for the establishment and the enforcement of standards used in world trade. The analyst, with his power to say yes or no , is one of the most influential of our contemporaries ... 

If an athlete was thought to be unfairly taking body-building drugs, what methods could be used in their detection ... 

In spite of these disadvantages, lu-ine is still the sample of choice for the detection of doping in athletes because it is easily obtained in reasonably large quantities, and generally contains detectable concentrations of drugs that are given in therapeutic doses. 

As has been the case with conventional drugs, therapeutic proteins produced by biotechnology are also open to misuse as in the cases of the use of human growth hormone and erythropoietin by athletes to enhance their athletic performance. Their being identical to their counterparts produced in the body makes their detection in routine tests nearly impossible (Spalding, 1991). These concerns are also being addressed by the manufacturers of such drugs. 

Recombinant human erythropoietin epoetin cdfa) is nearly identical to the endogenous hormone. The carbohydrate modification pattern of the recombinant form differs slightly from that of the native protein, but this difference apparently does not alter kinetics, potency, or immunoreac-tivity of the drug. However, modem assays can detect these differences, which is of significance for detecting athletes who use the recombinant product for blood doping. ... 

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