Chapter 14 - Application of liquid chromatography for anti-doping testing. Part 1: Anabolic agents and glucocorticoids

In this chapter, a selected number of recent, relevant research works regarding the application of liquid chromatography-based approaches for anti-doping testing are described and discussed with a focus on two of the more relevant classes of prohibited compounds in sports, namely anabolic androgenic steroids and glucocorticoids. In fact, drugs used to surreptitiously enhance human performance in sport competitions are prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and biological samples from athletes are tested for adverse analytical findings regarding the identity and/or quantity of the banned substances. In recent years, an important research activity has been carried out in the bioanalytical field with the aim of optimizing and improving discrimination criteria. The research has been focused in two main aspects: metabolic and pharmacokinetic studies to obtain data on banned substance and metabolite concentrations in biological matrices after different doses and/or administration routes, and optimization of the analytical methods to improve the quality of analytical results. The objective of this chapter is to describe the main aspects of recent research efforts based on the employment of liquid chromatographic approaches, also describing recent developments in terms of analytical technologies and the assessment of alternative biological matrices, including promising microsampling technologies.