Method to expose athletes' doping tricks

Since athletes started using doping in competitions, sports officials have always had a headache to try to expose this fraud.

Doping is the common name for banned substances in sports competitions . These substances generally work to speed up blood circulation, increase blood flow to the heart, increase physical strength and ability to concentrate for athletes.

According to Live Science, doping tests for athletes are complex, because no tests are available for all stimulants or techniques to improve competition results. Each type of doping drug requires a separate test.

"A unique and standardized test method designed for each drug," Live Science quoted Rhonda Orr, a senior lecturer in Sports Science at the University of Sydney, Australia. According to Orr, each type of doping leaves a characteristic trace in the blood. Tests will detect the drug or molecules that form when the drug dissolves in the blood.

Since each laboratory can only test certain substances, doping athletes can avoid detection by using drugs outside the laboratory's ability to test.

Athletes can inject stimulants into the body to improve their performance.(Artwork: Paul-Catalin Pop).

A qualified and trained chemist can prepare drugs in a slightly different way so that it is not detected through tests, Tom Hildebrandt, psychologist and director of the Stimulant Program The ability to compete at Mount Sinai Medical System in New York, USA, said.

Orr shares athletes and their teams can find ways to pass the test with new drugs. Therefore, laboratories must always be vigilant and innovative to promptly detect these new drugs.

One way for labs not to be blinded is to store blood samples. When testing for athletes, the laboratory usually saves a small blood sample. In case of finding a new way to test a drug, laboratory staff can retest the blood sample.

This "reassessment" method may cause some athletes to consider before using doping, according to G.Gregory Haff, Associate Professor of Physical and Physical Fitness at Edith Cowan University, Australia. If the laboratory detects athletes who have used doping in the tournament in the past, their medals may be withdrawn.

While there are many methods of testing for different doping substances, scientists have yet to find out what tests can be used for all cases. However, they are seeking to develop a test that can detect many of the same stimulants within the androgenic steroid group .

Currently, all androgenic steroids and similar effects have not been detected by testing. They work by attaching to the receptor of the hormone adrogen in the cell. The new test aims to test these receptors themselves, according to Hildebrandt.

With the new method, scientists take receptor cells and give them special marks in the laboratory. Then, the blood sample is inserted into the disk containing these receptors. If the signal lights up, scientists will know something in the sample of blood clinging to them. However, this method has not been widely applied.

Because this method does not indicate which substances are clinging to receptors, it may be used as a screening test, Hildebrandt said. Laboratories may perform this screening before applying specific tests to identify specific substances.