Sport, drug misuse

DRUGS MISUSED IN SPORT These include the anabolic steroids, the corticosteroids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and the diuretics. Of particular interest are the anabolic... 

J. Sabater Montesinos, M.C. Garcia Alvarez-Coque, G. Ramis Ramos and J.J. Lasema, On the Use of MLC for Detection of Drug Misuse in Sport, Quim. Anal, II 163 (1992). 

In sports, sophisticated pharmacological products and methods have been used over the recent years. Besides stimulants and narcotics, anabolic agents and peptide hormones, many substances are used and abused to improve the mental and/or physical performance of athletes. This is called doping and contradicts both sport and medical ethics. The credibility of the excellence of performance and unpredictability of the outcome of a competition attract much enthusiasm from the public. If drug misuse or pharmacological manipulations of the athletes remove that unpredictability, the public will lose its interest in the outcome of these sports. Sports practitioners are basically healthy and should not be administered... 

Some Pj-sympathomimetics, like clenbuterol, show anabolic side-effects, when over-dosed. As light and shadow are not infrequently in close proximity, these drugs have earned a dubious popularity for their appearance as performance enhancing substances. There are reports of misuse in the cattle-rearing industry, as well as cases of abuse in professional cycling and other competitive sports. [117]... 

Narcotic agents such as morphine and heroin (Fig. 3.4,1 and 2, respectively) have also been prohibited since regulations regarding the use and misuse of drugs in human sports were established. Opium, the dried juice of poppy seeds derived from Papaver somniferum was supposedly known for its medicinal utility since 1552 B.C by Egyptians, and Theophrastus evidently reported on its effects and value in the 3rd century B.C. Introduced to Western Europe in the 11th and 12th century A.D., it became the major component of remedies such as the infamous laudanum, a mixture of opium, wine, and spices, as prepared... 

The elevated diuresis, as induced by different mechanisms by diuretic agents, has been employed to counteract hypertension and selected kidney diseases for several decades. Due to the capability of diuretics to mask other banned compounds by urine dilution rather than any performance-enhancing property, these drugs were added to the list of prohibited substances and methods of doping in 1988. Early attempts to detect the misuse of diuretics in sports were based on GC-MS, and particularly methylated analytes were subjected to El dissociation studies. 

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