Monday 2 August 2010

Sport cheats need to be careful

Benzothiazepine test, which can be used to detect a specific range of untested but potentially performance enhancing compounds, is presently under the pipeline and is expected to make life difficult for sportsmen on steroids.
Tests for a specific class of drugs were formulated by a German research team; this event overrides the past wherein doping tests were developed only after a drug was identified.
On the face of it, the Beijing Olympics were remarkably drug free with only six athletes being caught during the games and three further suspect cases identified after the games closed. Rumours suggest that many athletes were in fact using performance-enhancing drugs that could not be detected using standard tests. One possibility is that some athletes were using compounds that have not yet been tested in humans, but have shown performance enhancing properties in animal trials. Because these compounds are in the early stage of development no test has been developed, so their use will go undetected.
A new test, announced in the launch issue of the new journal, Drug Testing and Analysis, will help sports officials stay one step ahead of the game by allowing them to screen for some of these emerging drugs, as well as others in the same class that have not yet reached the market.
The test detects a core chemical structure belonging to a class of compounds called benzothiazepines. These compounds stabilise protein channels that would otherwise "leak" calcium from muscle cells during strenuous exercise. Calcium is needed for muscle contraction and this "leaking" effect weakens the contractions and is a causal factor in muscle fatigue.
JTV-519 and S-107, benzothiazepines currently in development for the treatment of heart abnormalities, are known to increase endurance in mice. Although they have not yet entered human clinical trials, both can be detected using the test.
Mario Thevis, Director of the Center for Preventive Doping Research at the German Sport University of Cologne, Germany said that the preventive research will be more than useful for curbing the relationship from steroids and sports from reaching new heights.

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