Testosterone and Doping Control
June 2006
in “
British journal of sports medicine
”
TLDR The document concludes that better biomarkers are needed to detect long-term oral testosterone use in athletes.
The document from July 2006 discusses the use of anabolic-androgenic steroids, specifically testosterone, in sports and the methods employed by anti-doping laboratories to detect them in urine. Anabolic steroids, which are banned substances in sports, can be difficult to differentiate from natural testosterone using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The paper outlines indirect detection methods, such as the testosterone/epitestosterone glucuronide ratio, and direct methods like carbon isotope ratio determination. The World Anti-Doping Agency provided guidelines in August 2004 for reporting abnormal urinary steroid profiles indicative of testosterone or its precursors' administration. The technology for detecting testosterone is effective for intramuscularly administered testosterone, but oral administration requires urine samples to be collected shortly after intake due to rapid pharmacokinetics. The paper concludes that there is a need for specific biomarkers to detect long-term oral testosterone administration.