Gareau's "Erythropoietin abuse in athletes" 1996

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Revision as of 04:41, 17 January 2010

• Ergogenic = "Possessing the ability to enhance work output, particularly as it relates to athletic performance."
• Since we can make recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEpo), it is popular among athletes.
• The mainstream media is still the main vehicle for disclosure of athlete use.
• Even though the IOC has banned EPO, it is still being used heavily.
• We have no reliable analytical way to measure EPO.
• It is hard to come up with a test because of EPO's short half-life and delayed effects.
• The authors believe that they can identify the use of EPO based on the levels of soluble transferrin receptor in the serum as EPO treatment drastically changes Tfr levels.
• Tfr (and ferritin, ftn) respond to EPO because EPO stimulates erythropoiesis which causes redistribution of iron (an increased intake into erythroid progenitors).
• This Tfr/ftn method of assaying EPO is particularly good because it will not be scewed by hydration issues which can change hematocrit levels and it may be able to detect non-EPO-based attempts to increase erythropoiesis.
• They show that there was no significant change in hematocrit levels with the treatment of rHuEpo, yet even at a very small dose (smaller than that which would induce an ergogenic response) a detectable, significant tfr/ftn ratio change was present.
• They mention that non-elite athletes with other blood disorders like anemia are not likely to yield false positives because they are not at elite levels of performance.
• They mention that physical exercise does not modify tfr/ftn levels and therefore blood samples taken at the competition site would still yield accurate results.
• "Hence, observation of concomitant changes in haematocrit and Tfr/ftn values could permit the discrimination of pathological from physiological conditions, and thus distinguish between rHuEpo abusers (or even athletes who had undergone blood transfusions) and those competing fairly."
• "This first breach in athletes' immunity to detection of their use of engineered hormones as performance enhancers is a pledge in favour of the blood matrix to detect and deter sophisticated abusers."