Development and Validation of Sensitive, Fast and Simple LC-MS/MS Method to Investigate the Association between Adrenocortical Steroidogenesis and the High Intensity Exercise in Elite Athletes.

The very high intensity of exercise accompanied by mental stress triggers adaptive mechanisms associated with adrenocortical steroidogenesis. However, the association between adrenocortical steroidogenesis and the high intensity of exercise in elite athletes is poorly studied. A significant obstacle to solving this complex task is the wide range (4-5 orders) of steroid concentrations in serum and limitations related to the amount of biological samples taken from professional athletes.

Possible indirect detection of rHuEPO administration in human urine by high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.

The present study is based on the assumption that changes in an ADMA-DDAH-NOS (ADMA-asymmetrical dimethylarginine; DDAH-dimethyl-arginine dimethylaminohydrolase; NOS-nitric oxide synthase) system could be employed as indirect markers for recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) administration in doping control. We assessed a predictive value of four proposed new markers for rHuEPO abuse. Preliminary data showed that concentrations of ADMA, symmetrical dimethylarginine (SDMA), citrulline and arginine in human urine were increased after administration of a single intravenous erythropoietin injection (2000 U day(-1), Epocrine, St-Petersburg, Russia).