| Abstract: | Doping is banned by national and international sports federations and by the IOC. Doping is the use of a substance belonging to one of the banned groups and te use of a doping method. The groups of doping substances, namely stimulants, narcotics, anabolic agents, diuretics and peptide hormones, are introduced. The main analytical methods are based on gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (MS) and are summarized for stimulants and anabolic steroid hormones. The use of mass spectrometry is unambigously necessary for identification of banned substance. In addition to GC/low resolution MS methods for anabolic agents, more sophisticated methods such as high resolution MS (to increase sensitivity) and carbon isotope raio MS (to distinguish between endogenous production and exogenous application of anabolic hormones) are used in doping control. |
