Biosafety Level 2 cabinet UV-C light exposure of sports antidoping human urine samples does not affect the stability of selected prohibited substances.

The current study examined the stability of several antidoping prohibited substances analytes in urine after 15-min exposure to UV-C light in a Biosafety Level 2 cabinet. The urine matrices were exposed within the original antidoping bottles with the aim to destroy DNA/RNA and possible SARS CoV-2. The analytes small molecules Phase I and Phase II metabolites and peptides, in total 444, endogenous, internal standards, and prohibited substances, pH, and specific gravity in urine were studied. The accredited analytical methods were used by Anti-Doping Laboratory Qatar for the comparison of data of the same urine samples analyzed with and without UV-C exposure. In the study conditions, no problems of stability were detected in the substances spiked in the urine samples exposed in the UV-C irradiation.

Hyperhydration-Induced Decrease in Urinary Luteinizing Hormone Concentrations of Male Athletes in Doping Control Analysis.

Low urinary luteinizing hormone (LH) values have been discussed as a marker to detect steroid abuse. However, suppressed LH concentrations related to highly diluted urine samples could be a misleading indication of anabolic steroid abuse. One aim of the present study was to examine the effect of hyperhydration on the interpretation of LH findings during doping control analysis and to investigate different possibilities to correct volume-related changes in urinary LH concentrations. Seven healthy, physically active, nonsmoking White males were examined for a 72-hr period, using water and a commercial sports drink as hyperhydration agents (20 ml/kg body weight). Urine samples were collected and analyzed according to the World Anti-Doping Agency's technical documents. Baseline urinary LH concentrations, expressed as the mean ± SD for each individual, were within the acceptable physiological range (7.11 ± 5.42 IU/L). A comparison of the measured LH values for both hyperhydration phases (Phase A: 4.24 ± 5.60 IU/L and Phase B: 4.74 ± 4.72 IU/L) with the baseline ("normal") values showed significant differences (Phase A: p < .001 and Phase B: p < .001), suggesting the clear effect of urine dilution due to hyperhydration. However, an adjustment of urinary LH concentrations by specific gravity based on a reference value of 1.020 seems to adequately correct the hyperhydration-induced decrease on the LH levels.

Gas chromatographic quadrupole time-of-flight full scan high resolution mass spectrometric screening of human urine in antidoping analysis.

This paper presents the development and validation of a high-resolution full scan (FS) electron impact ionization (EI) gas chromatography coupled to quadrupole Time-of-Flight mass spectrometry (GC/QTOF) platform for screening anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) in human urine samples. The World Antidoping Agency (WADA) enlists AAS as prohibited doping agents in sports, and our method has been developed to comply with the qualitative specifications of WADA to be applied for the detection of sports antidoping prohibited substances, mainly for AAS. The method also comprises of the quantitative analysis of the WADA's Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) endogenous steroidal parameters. The applied preparation of urine samples includes enzymatic hydrolysis for the cleavage of the Phase II glucuronide conjugates, generic liquid-liquid extraction and trimethylsilyl (TMS) derivatization steps. Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) acquisition was applied on few selected ions to enhance the specificity and sensitivity of GC/TOF signal of few compounds. The full scan high resolution acquisition of analytical signal, for known and unknown TMS derivatives of AAS provides the antidoping system with a new analytical tool for the detection designer drugs and novel metabolites, which prolongs the AAS detection, after electronic data files' reprocessing. The current method is complementary to the respective liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC/MS) methodology widely used to detect prohibited molecules in sport, which cannot be efficiently ionized with atmospheric pressure ionization interface.