Endocrine Abstracts

Anabolic-androgenic steroids are synthetic derivatives of testosterone. They are abused by athletes in sport. The goal of individuals who use anabolic steroids in sport is dependent on the activity in which they participate. It has been difficult to show scientifically that the use of anabolic steroids increases physical performance. There has been much less discussion on the psychological and central nervous system (CNS) effects of anabolic steroids and on the significance of...

Performance enhancing substances enjoy considerable popularity among athletes, particularly if deemed undetectable. Doping with growth hormone has been considered undetectable until recently. Two strategies have been pursued to detect GH doping: Pharmacological endpoints and GH isoform composition.For the former approach the consortium GH 2000/2004 has identified markers of GH action and found a combination of parameters from the IGF-system and collagen ...

Gene therapy and pharmacological therapies that target gene expression have tremendous potential as novel therapeutic agents. In many cases these agents not only have applications in disease states, but also could have tremendous impact on the physiology of normal individuals. A number of strategies being developed for the treatment of disease have the possibility to eventually be used for genetic enhancement of human performance. For example, genes can be easily transferred i...

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned blood doping in 1988 after the discovery that cyclists were transfusing homologous blood at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984. Recombinant erythropoietin (EPO) was developed for the treatment of anaemia following the cloning of the human EPO gene in 1984. Unfortunately, sports competitors could then misuse EPO to increase circulating haemoglobin and its oxygen carrying capacity in order to gain an advantage in endurance even...