title: A review of designer anabolic steroids in equine sports.
abstract: In recent years, the potential for anabolic steroid abuse in equine sports has increased due to the growing availability of designer steroids. These compounds are readily accessible online in 'dietary' or 'nutritional' supplements and contain steroidal compounds which have never been tested or approved as veterinary agents. They typically have unusual structures or substitution and as a result may pass undetected through current anti-doping screening protocols, making them a significant concern for the integrity of the industry. Despite considerable focus in human sports, until recently there has been limited investigation into these compounds in equine systems. To effectively respond to the threat of designer steroids, a detailed understanding of their metabolism is needed to identify markers and metabolites arising from their misuse. A summary of the literature detailing the metabolism of these compounds in equine systems is presented with an aim to identify metabolites suitable for incorporation into screening protocols by anti-doping laboratories. The future of equine anti-doping research is likely to be guided by the incorporation of alternate testing matrices into routine screening, the improvement of in vitro technologies that can mimic in vivo equine metabolism, and the improvement of instrumentation or analytical methods that allow for the development of untargeted screening, and metabolomics approaches for use in anti-doping screening protocols. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors.affiliation: Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
authors.forename: Christopher C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Waller
authors.affiliation: Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
authors.forename: Malcolm D
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2343-3226
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: McLeod
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015198:Designer Drugs / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D004300:Doping in Sports / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006736:Horses; D006801:Humans; D013177:Sports / Q000502:physiology*; D045165:Testosterone Congeners / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D015198:Designer Drugs; D045165:Testosterone Congeners
keywords: anabolic steroid; anti-doping; designer steroid; drug testing; horse; metabolism