Endocrine Abstracts

Bodybuilders and athletes have recognised for several decades that the use of anabolic steroids can promote muscle growth and strength but it is only relatively recently that these agents are being revisited for clinical purposes. The pharmacology of anabolic steroids is not well understood, although intracellular steroid metabolism and also the topology of the bound androgen receptor interacting with co-activators are considered to be important factors. Behavioural changes by...

For more than 25 years substances and methods enhancing oxygen delivery in the body have been of great concern in the fight against doping. The clear influence of an increased amount of red blood cells on physical performance, most obvious for endurance sports, has alerted the anti-doping authorities to put a high priority on efforts to disclose the administration of such doping practices.The annually updated WADA-prohibited list mentions several erythro...

There is widespread anecdotal evidence that GH has been misused by athletes for its anabolic and lipolytic properties since the early 1980s, at least a decade before GH was used therapeutically by adult endocrinologists. Since then a number of high profile athletes have admitted using GH. Despite its widespread abuse, there is debate about whether GH is ergogenic. Until recently most scientific studies have not shown a performance enhancing effect but most have employed an ina...

Advances in genetic technology are permitting application in at least two areas relevant to doping in Sport. The first is derived directly from successful development of the new form of medicine called gene therapy – the use of genes and genetic elements to treat human disease. This conceptually new area of Medicine was proposed initially almost 4 decades ago and has finally proven to be clinically successful in several life–threatening or debilitating diseases including...