Lasne F, Martin L, Martin JA, de Ceaurriz J. Detection of continuous erythropoietin receptor activator in blood and urine in anti-doping control. Haematologica. 2009 Jun;94(6):888-90.

Lasne F, Martin L, Crepin N, de Ceaurriz J. Detection of isoelectric profiles of erythropoietin in urine: differentiation of natural and administered recombinant hormones. Anal Biochem. 2002 Dec 15;311(2):119-26.

Lasne F, de Ceaurriz J. Recombinant erythropoietin in urine. Nature. 2000 Jun 8;405(6787):635.

Wide L, Bengtsson C, Berglund B, Ekblom B. Detection in blood and urine of recombinant erythropoietin administered to healthy men.
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1995 Nov;27(11):1569-76.

VA Bocci, I Zanardi & V Travagli. Ozone acting on human blood yields a hormetic dose-response relationship. Journal of Translational Medicine 2011, 9:66.

Longitudinal profiling of urinary steroids by gas chromatography/combustion/isotope ratio mass spectrometry: diet change may result in carbon isotopic variations / Christophe Saudan, Matthias Kamber, Giulia Barbati, Neil Robinson, Aurélien Desmarchelier, Patrice Mangin, Martial Saugy. - (Journal of Chromatography B 831 (2006) 1-2 (February); p. 324-372)

• PMID: 16338181
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jchromb.2005.11.029

Abstract

Longitudinal profiling of urinary steroids was investigated by using a gas chromatography/combustion/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC/C/IRMS) method. The carbon isotope ratio of three urinary testosterone (T) metabolites: androsterone, etiocholanolone, 5beta-androstane-3alpha,17beta-diol (5beta-androstanediol) together with 16(5alpha)-androsten-3alpha-ol (androstenol) and 5beta-pregnane-3alpha,20alpha-diol (5beta-pregnanediol) were measured in urine samples collected from three top-level athletes over 2 years. Throughout the study, the subjects were living in Switzerland and were residing every year for a month or two in an African country. (13)C-enrichment larger than 2.5 per thousand was observed for one subject after a 2-month stay in Africa. Our findings reveal that (13)C-enrichment caused by a diet change might be reduced if the stay in Africa was shorter or if the urine sample was not collected within the days after return to Switzerland. The steroids of interest in each sample did not show significant isotopic fractionation that could lead to false positive results in anti-doping testing. In contrast to the results obtained with the carbon isotopic ratio, profiling of urinary testosterone/epitestosterone (T/E) ratios was found to be unaffected by a diet change.

Testosterone and doping control / C. Saudan, N. Baume, N. Robinson, L. Avois, P. Mangin, M. Saugy. - (British Journal of Sports Medicine 40 (2006) Suppl. 1; p. i21-i24)

• PMID: 16799097
• PMCID: PMC2657495
• DOI: 10.1136/bjsm.2006.027482

Abstract

Background and objectives: Anabolic steroids are synthetic derivatives of testosterone, modified to enhance its anabolic actions (promotion of protein synthesis and muscle growth). They have numerous side effects, and are on the International Olympic Committee's list of banned substances. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry allows identification and characterisation of steroids and their metabolites in the urine but may not distinguish between pharmaceutical and natural testosterone. Indirect methods to detect doping include determination of the testosterone/epitestosterone glucuronide ratio with suitable cut-off values. Direct evidence may be obtained with a method based on the determination of the carbon isotope ratio of the urinary steroids. This paper aims to give an overview of the use of anabolic-androgenic steroids in sport and methods used in anti-doping laboratories for their detection in urine, with special emphasis on doping with testosterone.

Methods: Review of the recent literature of anabolic steroid testing, athletic use, and adverse effects of anabolic-androgenic steroids.

Results: Procedures used for detection of doping with endogenous steroids are outlined. The World Anti-Doping Agency provided a guide in August 2004 to ensure that laboratories can report, in a uniform way, the presence of abnormal profiles of urinary steroids resulting from the administration of testosterone or its precursors, androstenediol, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone or a testosterone metabolite, dihydrotestosterone, or a masking agent, epitestosterone.

Conclusions: Technology developed for detection of testosterone in urine samples appears suitable when the substance has been administered intramuscularly. Oral administration leads to rapid pharmacokinetics, so urine samples need to be collected in the initial hours after intake. Thus there is a need to find specific biomarkers in urine or plasma to enable detection of long term oral administration of testosterone.

Hartgens F, Kuipers H. Effects of androgenic-anabolic steroids in athletes. Sports Med. 2004;34(8):513-54.

Choong K, Lakshman KM, Bhasin S. The physiological and pharmacological basis for the ergogenic effects of androgens in elite sports. Asian J Androl. 2008 May;10(3):351-63.

Graham MR, Davies B, Grace FM, Kicman A, Baker JS. Anabolic steroid use: patterns of use and detection of doping. Sports Med. 2008;38(6):505-25.