Traditional Chinese medicine and sports drug testing: identification of natural steroid administration in doping control urine samples resulting from musk (pod) extracts.

The administration of musk extract, that is, ingredients obtained by extraction of the liquid secreted from the preputial gland or resulting grains of the male musk deer (eg, Moschus moschiferus), has been recommended in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) applications and was listed in the Japanese pharmacopoeia for various indications requiring cardiovascular stimulation, anti-inflammatory medication or androgenic hormone therapy. Numerous steroidal components including cholesterol, 5α-androstane-3,17-dione, 5ß-androstane-3,17-dione, androsterone, etiocholanolone, epiandrosterone, 3ß-hydroxy-androst-5-en-17-one, androst-4-ene-3,17-dione and the corresponding urea adduct 3α-ureido-androst-4-en-17-one were characterised as natural ingredients of musk over several decades, implicating an issue concerning doping controls if used for the treatment of elite athletes. In the present study, the impact of musk extract administration on sports drug testing results of five females competing in an international sporting event is reported. In the course of routine doping controls, adverse analytical findings concerning the athletes' steroid profile, corroborated by isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) data, were obtained. The athletes' medical advisors admitted the prescription of TCM-based musk pod preparations and provided musk pod samples for comparison purposes to clarify the antidoping rule violation. Steroid profiles, IRMS results, literature data and a musk sample obtained from a living musk deer of a local zoo conclusively demonstrated the use of musk pod extracts in all cases which, however, represented a doping offence as prohibited anabolic-androgenic steroids were administered.

A study of urinary excretion of parathyroid hormone in man.

A procedure for bioassaying parathyroid hormone-like activity in human urine has been developed. 24-hr urine samples were concentrated with dry Sephadex G-25 and bioassayed in the young thyroparathyrocauterized mouse by the measurement of whole blood calcium. Recovery of biological activity and radioiodinated beef parathyroid hormone was over 80%. Normal subjects usually excreted less than 30 U (USP) of activity per day while 18 patients with proven primary hyperparathyroidism excreted a mean of 182 U/day (USP). The activity was not found in 7 patients with hypoparathyroidism or in 5 patients with carcinoma of the breast, but was present in 9 patients with uremia and in 5 with carcinoma of the lung and hypercalcemia.