Many athletes turn to performance-enhancing drugs to try to get an edge on the competition. However, drugs aren't the only thing athletes are turning to get an edge, some are using blood transfusions or blood doping. Blood doping is the misuse of certain methods or substances to increase red blood cell mass. Adding red blood cells allows the body to transport more oxygen to muscles and increases the endurance and performance of an athlete. This technique of cheating was put into the spotlight from the scandals involving Lance Armstrong. Methods of testing for plasticizers such as 2-Ethylhexyl phthalate that would come from a blood bag into the bloodstream, but there were many issues because plasticizers were found in lots of different objects like food packaging, toys, etc. all these could somehow leach into someone's body without them knowing. While at the same time different formulas for steroids were becoming harder and harder to differentiate in samples.
The problems the World Anti-Doping Agency was facing were coming at them faster than they could handle. “As quickly as we develop methods to look for performance-enhancing drugs, clandestine labs develop new substances that give athletes a competitive advantage” -Christopher Chouinard. However, Dr. Chouinard's team have been developing a new way of testing that can differentiate endogenous and exogenous steroids and can anticipate different compound structure that may appear in athletes urine samples. The current method uses mass spectrometry or gas chromatography, by breaking up molecules samples into different fragments and creating a spectrum that can reveal compounds, but this method makes it harder to differentiate molecules with slight structure differences especially isomers. The main issue is determining the differences between endogenous and exogenous steroids.
Dr. Chouinard found a way to highlight those differences by pairing MS with the ion mobility spectrum. His team discovered that isomer differences could be even further distinguished if molecules in a sample were modified before IM-MS analysis by reacting samples with other compounds like acetone under the presence of ultraviolet light, which is a technique that many chemists who study lipid isomers use. According to his team, they have successfully used these reactions with IM-MS to improve isomer separations and identification of steroids. They also showed the method can characterize and identify banned glucocorticoids, such as cortisone, that improve athletic performance by suppressing inflammation from injuries. Detection limits are below one nanogram per ml. His team plans to reveal more of their finds at The researchers will present their results today at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Sources:
https://scitechdaily.com/outsmarting-cheaters-doping-by-athletes-tougher-to-hide-with-new-detection-method/
https://www.the-scientist.com/features/the-race-to-nab-cheating-athletes-66286
https://cdn.britannica.com/30/6530-004-798906B4/functions-vertebrates-steroid-hormones.jpg
I like your title. Very engaging. Your first graphic is effective and easy to read and interpret. The second graphic is also effective in showing the subtle differences between the various steroidal PEDs that regulators are trying to identify and distinguish. Your explanation is pretty good, although it takes a while to get to your main point: That using ion-mobilities makes it possible to differentiate between even isomers with the same mass. Thus endogenous and exogenous steroids can be distinguished. It is not clear whether this applies to blood doping, your initial point and the subject of your title. Still a very interesting subject of quite wide interest with real chemical significance.
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