Detection of anabolic steroid administration to athletes

Abstract

The main synthetic anabolic steroids used in athletics can be detected by a radioimmunoassay screening technique applied to methylene chloride extracts of unhydrolysed urine. The 17α-methylsteroids, which are active on oral administration, can all be detected with an antiserum prepared against 17α-methyltestosterone-3-carboxymethyloxime-HSA. The preparations active by intramuscular injection, 19-nortestosterone phenylpropionate or decanoate and also the orally active 17α-ethyl steroids, norethandrolone and ethylestrenol, can be detected using an antiserum directed against 19-nortestosterone-17β-hemisuccinate-HSA. The possibility of detecting administration of the natural androgen testosterone by its effect on the suppression of endogenous luteinizing hormone (LH) has been investigated. Ten male volunteers (aged 18–23 years) given two injections of Primotestone (250 mg) either 7 days or 14 days apart, all showed dramatic increases in the ratio of testosterone to LH. The mean ratio of testosterone (nmol/l) to LH (u/l) in the plasma rose from 4.8 ± 0.2 (S.E.) before injection to 72 ± 6 after injection. The mean ratio of free testosterone (nmol/24 h) to LH (u/24 h) excreted in the urine increased from 0.4 ± 0.03 to 2.3 ± 0.18 and that of total testosterone to LH from 41 ± 2.6 to 298 ± 26