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Testing in Athletes for Drug Use | Greyhound Chromatography

Analytical Reference Standards from Greyhound Chromatography

 

Greyhound Chromatography Reference Standards Guide    Reference Standards Guide

Stimulants, Anabolic Steroids and Agents, Diuretics, Peptide Hormones and Analogues are some of the substances that enhance athletic performance that are banned in sports.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) introduced the first drug use controls at the 1968 Winter Olympics. These controls eventually evolved into a systematic testing regimen that all Olympic athletes must adhere to. Testing of athletes for performance enhancing drugs includes both urine and blood tests. As of 1999 the authoritative body on the use of performance enhancing drugs is the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). This organisation oversees the testing of athletes for several sports federations and the Olympic Games.

Doping control is a huge issue in sports performance today. Always a topical subject when high profile events are due to take place, the controversial subject is brought in to the media arena when events such as The Tour De France and the Olympic Games are in progress. Competitions where athletes are strictly monitored and tested attract media attention, particularly when athletes are found to be using substances that are on the banned list. However, testing takes place all over the world every day for every competitive sporting event. Headlines over recent years have included high profile sports personalities who have been banned from competing in their respective sports following mandatory tests, there has been some discussion about false positives being recorded because of an athlete’s body reacting with prescription drugs. This highlights the need for stringent testing, research and analysis.

Gas Chromatography is used extensively by testing laboratories to detect banned substances in blood and urine samples. The gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS), which combines two analytical instruments, is most often used in drug testing. The GC (gas chromatograph) separates the ingredients of the mixture, and the mass spectrometer identifies them. To ensure that urine and blood samples from the athlete are sent to the laboratory in a way that ensures that they are identified to the individual giving the sample, without any possible confusion as to whom they belong, is a complex and closely regulated procedure. In most sports drug testing programs an official witness’s urination into a plastic cup, or the taking of a blood sample. The sample is then poured into bottles that are sealed to exclude contamination and tampering, and shipped to the testing laboratory. GC-MS analysis begins with sample preparation. Steps to remove water and salts and to concentrate target drugs can take several hours. Greyhound Chromatography, a Wirral based company, has been supplying Chromatography consumables to Research and Analysis laboratories for 30 years. Greyhound manufactures its own range of GC Capillary columns which includes over 1,000 different columns that are used for many different analyses, these include testing samples from athletes.

Upon injection into the GC, the sample is vaporized and swept along a hair-thin glass tube (capillary column) by a flow of inert gas such as helium. Different compounds travel at different speeds due to variations in boiling point, polarity, and solubility in the coating of the inner wall of the tube. The compounds exit the GC one by one, each at a different, characteristic time (the retention time), and enter the mass spectrometer. The mass spectrometer breaks molecules into fragments and measures their mass-to-(electrical) charge ratio, m/z.

Fragmentation patterns can be interpreted to deduce the structure of an unknown molecule. In drug testing, because fragmentation patterns are characteristic and reproducible, a drug is identified and its presence confirmed by matching both its GC retention time and mass spectrum with those of an authentic reference standard. Greyhound Chromatography supplies Analytical Reference Standards of very high purity to ensure accurate detection of banned substances (over 100,000 standards are available as neat products, solutions and customised mixtures) and also supplies laboratory consumables including, GC Columns, Syringes, glassware, testing and analysis collection cups.

The science behind the analysis and detection of samples is straightforward, the moral and ethical arguments that surround athletes taking performance enhancing substances are not so simple and will be debated for as long as competitive sports are conducted.

Stimulants:
Amiphenazole
Amphetamine
Bemigride
Benzphetamine
Bromantan
Caffeine
Chlorphentermine
Cocaine
Cropropamide
Crothetamine
Dimethylamphetamine
Doxapram
Ephedrine
Ethamivan
Ethylamphetamine


Anabolic Agents:
Anabolic Steriods
Androstenediol
Androstenedione
Boldenone
Clostebol
Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone
Testosterone
Dehydroepiandrosterone
(DHEA)
Dihydrotestosterone (DHT)
Dromostanolone
Fluoxymesterone
Mesterolone
Methandienone
Methenolone


Diuretics:
Acetazolamide
Bendroflumethiazide
Benzthiazide
Bumetanide
Fencamfamine
meclofenoxate
methamphetamine
methylphenidate
nikethamide
pemoline
pentetrazol
phendimetrazine
phenmetrazine
picrotoxine
pipradol
prolintane
strychnine
and related compounds
methyltestosterone
nandrolone
norandrostendiol
norandrostenedione
norethandrolone
oxandrolone
oxymesterone
oxymetholonestanozolol
testosterone
and related compounds

Other Anabolic Agents
clenbuterol
hydroflumethiazide
methyclothiazide
metolazone
polythiazide

Chlorothiazide quinethazone
Chlorthalidone spironolactone
Ethacrynic acid triamterene
Flumethiazide trichlormethiazide
Furosemide and related compounds
Hydrochlorothiazide

Peptide Hormones and Analogues
Chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG-human chorionic gonadotrophin)
Corticotrophin (ACTH)
Growth hormone (HGH, somatotrophin)
All the respective releasing factors of the above-mentioned substances also are
banned.
Erythropoietin (EPO)


The following is a definition of positive for this list.
• For Caffeine – if the concentration in urine exceeds 12 micrograms/ml
• For Testosterone – if the administration of testosterone or the use of any other
manipulation has the result of increasing the ratio of the total concentration of
testosterone to that of epitestosterone in the urine to greater that 6:1, unless
there is evidence that this ratio is due to a physiological or pathological
condition.

 

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About the Author

Susan MAssie, Marketing Director Greyhound Chromatography Image

Susan Massie, Sales & Marketing Director, Greyhound Chromatography and Allied Chemicals Email: sue@greyhoundchrom.com

Susan Massie is the Sales & Marketing Director for Greyhound Chromatography and Allied Chemicals, affectionately known as 'Greyhound' in our scientific community. Greyhound was founded by Susan's husband Paul Massie more than 40 years ago, Susan hasn't been in the business for all of that time but has been involved with Greyhound for over 17 years. Greyhound continues to grow, expanding into new markets and taking on the challenges of our ever changing environment. It's heartwarming to witness the world waking up to the fact that we are damaging our planet on a daily basis. Every action we take has a direct effect on our planet and the world we leave behind for future generations. Susan is passionate about climate change and is happy to work in an industry that can have a direct effect on reducing the impact of our actions on the environment. All of the team at Greyhound take our responsibilities very seriously, the products that we supply are used by the world's leading scientists and chemists as they endeavour to monitor and repair the environment. All is not lost, if we all take responsibility for our actions, from reducing our waste and reusing or recycling our material collateral we can make a difference. The internet is full of useful advice and guidance, Susan is proud to contribute to that wealth of knowledge whenever she can.

Greyhound prides itself on personal service which provides prompt, efficient, cost-effective, safe delivery of all products. Greyhound provides technical advice and distribution of Certified Reference Standards and Materials, Laboratory Consumables, Solvents and Reagents across all scientific disciplines. Greyhound Chromatography offers over 1 Million products from its UK warehouse. The team at Greyhound are proud to support the work of the world's leading scientists and chemists as they challenge the abuse of our planet and try to make a difference to the world we leave behind for our ancestors.

You can view Susan's Linked In Profile here https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-massie-79ab4121/

 

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