Dec 25 2008
New drug testing methods to detect new classes of designer steroids
Urinary analysis is the primary method most drug testing laboratories employ to detect the illegal use of anabolic steroids among athletes. This method has been quite successful in detecting most of the steroids that are illicitly used in sports, especially the synthetic varieties because they have easily identified structures. However, this method is not fail-safe especially when it comes to the detection of the illicit use of testosterone (also known as T), which is a naturally occurring hormone.
To detect the intake of exogenous testosterone, the person’s normal hormone profile has to be distorted to some degree and optimal markers need to be identified. The cut-off ratio of androgen glucuronides to epitestosterone is usually 6. The expected urinary ratio of T/E among healthy males not using anabolic steroids is ~1.
However, a lot of athletes who use anabolic steroids switch from the use of synthetic compound to T (testosterone) pharmaceuticals so as to evade detection. Thus detection has been increasingly difficult. Not to mention, a lot of drug companies develop new classes of steroids all the time, which evade traditional drug testing. Drug testing laboratories and sports organizations continue to look for better methods to detect the illicit use of steroids across all sports.
Reactive Desorption Electrospray Ionization
Recently, researchers in China and Indiana reported that they are developing a faster and more efficient method for detecting anabolic steroids in urine. This new method, they claimed, takes only a few seconds and does not require a lot of sample preparation. Their new method was described in the journal Analytical Chemistry, entitled, “Rapid Screening of Anabolic Steroids in Urine by Reactive Desorption Electrospray Ionization.” In the report, they acknowledged that the current existing urinalysis method is effective but involves cumbersome and time-consuming preparation steps, making it quite costly in the long run.
One of the main reasons that steroid detection cannot be implemented fully in schools and in the police force is the relatively expensive cost of steroid testing. Led by Zheng Ouyang and R. Graham Cooks, the research team developed a combination of testing techniques: desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) and tandem mass spectrometry. The researchers analyzed fresh urine samples containing trace elements of seven different types of anabolic steroids using the new method. With only using a single drop of urine, they accurately identified the steroids in a few seconds.
Enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay
Australian scientists from the University of Sydney, New South Wales are using a technique called ELISA (enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay) to counter designer steroids that are being used to cheat in horse racing and other sports. The Australian Racing Forensic Laboratory employs this method as a preliminary screen during race-day for detecting metabolites that are produced by steroids. The research team developed this method further for targeting new designer steroids such as tetrahydrogestrinone.
Instead of detecting the steroids itself, the method detects the D-ring of metabolites which are produced by these types of designer steroids and are broken down in the body. While the researchers are working in the field of drug detection among horses, McLeod says that the issues are very similar to drug testing in human sports.
