A review of designer anabolic steroids in equine sports

Abstract

In recent years, the potential for anabolic steroid abuse in equine sports has increased due to the growing availability of designer steroids. These compounds are readily accessible online in 'dietary' or 'nutritional' supplements and contain steroidal compounds which have never been tested or approved as veterinary agents. They typically have unusual structures or substitution and as a result may pass undetected through current anti-doping screening protocols, making them a significant concern for the integrity of the industry. Despite considerable focus in human sports, until recently there has been limited investigation into these compounds in equine systems. To effectively respond to the threat of designer steroids, a detailed understanding of their metabolism is needed to identify markers and metabolites arising from their misuse. A summary of the literature detailing the metabolism of these compounds in equine systems is presented with an aim to identify metabolites suitable for incorporation into screening protocols by anti-doping laboratories. The future of equine anti-doping research is likely to be guided by the incorporation of alternate testing matrices into routine screening, the improvement of in vitro technologies that can mimic in vivo equine metabolism, and the improvement of instrumentation or analytical methods that allow for the development of untargeted screening, and metabolomics approaches for use in anti-doping screening protocols.

Challenges in detecting substances for equine anti‐doping

“…[55] It is not uncommon that doping agents used in human sports would likewise be abused in equine sports. [56] The detection of designer steroids seems have been initiated by animal sports as several racing laboratories have conducted relative metabolic studies. [55] Therefore, designer steroids would pose a similar threat to the horseracing and equestrian communities.…”

Ultra‐fast retroactive processing of liquid chromatography high‐resolution full‐scan Orbitrap mass spectrometry data in anti‐doping screening of human urine

“…Due to the technological advances and increasing knowledge of metabolism, new slowly excreted metabolites of known anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) were discovered; these long‐term metabolites allow the possible detection of AAS abuse for a longer time after the administration has been stopped, compared to the previously known metabolites . Furthermore, new designer drugs – molecules outside the official pharmaceutical system – have been produced and marketed escaping national legislations . It has been proven that the reanalysis of old samples previously reported as negatives has resulted in reporting more positive cases for doping use than the initial testing…”

Replacing PAPS: In vitro phase II sulfation of steroids with the liver S9 fraction employing ATP and sodium sulfate

“…Alternatively, in vitro technologies based on cultured liver cells or liver extracts provide methods that mitigate many of the ethical concerns regarding human or animal health and safety . These issues are of particular relevance in the case of synthetic or so‐called designer steroids since they are often brought to market in a clandestine fashion, and the majority of these compounds do not have available data regarding their purity, safety, or efficacy . Given this, in vitro experiments would offer a safer approach to identifying metabolite markers.…”