New undiscoverd techniques to detect unknown PED’s

Cheating athletes may soon be caught out

According to recent findings in Drug Testing and Analysis journals, athletes using Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) are heading for a big surprise as German researchers are currently developing tests for a class of drugs that are not yet available, but could be used in the future. Until recently, researchers could only detect drugs already on the market.  

Because of this breakthrough, it has now become easier to catch athletes using illegal substances to improve their performance. During the last Olympic events in Beijing, six athletes were caught using drugs, whilst three suspects were identified after the games.

According to reports some sources have argued that many athletes using PEDs have managed to remain undetected when standard tests were applied. Many have speculated that a number of athletes could have been using drugs that effectively enhance performance in animals, but remain untested on humans. Because these drugs are in such an early stage development, it is very hard for sports officials to detect them.

However, thanks to the help of our trusty German researchers, officials will soon be able to screen a number of emerging drugs, as well as many other not yet available on the market.

The test detects a core chemical structure belonging to ‘benzothiazepines’, a class of compounds that stabilise protein channels and obstruct calcium leaking from muscle cells during strenuous exercise. Scientists agree that calcium aids muscle contraction. It calcium leak, the contractions become weaker, thus triggering muscle fatigue.
‘As soon as these drugs enter human clinical trials, there is a huge potential for them to be missed in sports,’ explained Dr Mario Thevis, head of the Center for Preventive Doping Research at the German Sport University of Cologne, Germany. ‘This preventive research lets us prepare before these compounds are officially launched.’

Researchers have reported that because the compounds are simple in nature, their production and black market trade as performance enhancers are pretty much clear-cut.

Dr Thevis added that this research characterised the compounds based on their weight and molecular structure, effectively giving the team a molecular ‘fingerprint’ for identifying the compounds.

By using high-resolution mass spectrometry, it was demonstrated that the benzothiazepines JTV-519 and S-107 could be detected in spiked urine at concentrations as low as 0.1 nanograms per milliliter.

‘We used the common approaches that are employed for detecting anabolic agents,’ Dr Thevis said. ‘Our work showed that we could identify the right compounds and that we have a sensitive test.’

The next step, according to the researchers, is to look for the molecules that emerge from the metabolic breakdown of the compounds once they have entered the human body. The answers will give the researchers a greater understanding of the compounds to be used when screening the samples of athletes.

It should be noted that only when a green light has been given for clinical trials can the compounds be given to humans. Until that day comes, the researchers will have to rely on bench studies using human microsomes, which are tiny vesicles that mimic cell metabolism.