well, I'll be!! testing developed to test for AIs in urine of athletes(doping)!

[Lani]

When I first read the title of the article, I thought it was because I had read that noncompliance (failure to take the prescribed medication) was as high as 50% in some studies of women prescribed antihormonals. But, no. Athletes have been utilizing AIs to "cover up" their doping with androgenic steroids!

1: Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom. 2006 May 19;20(12):1954-1962 [Epub ahead of print] Links

Identification of the aromatase inhibitors anastrozole and exemestane in human urine using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry.

Mareck U, Geyer H, Guddat S, Haenelt N, Koch A, Kohler M, Opfermann G, Thevis M, Schanzer W.

Institute of Biochemistry, German Sport University Cologne, Carl-Diem-Weg 6, 50933 Cologne, Germany.

Anastrozole (2,2'-[5-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-ylmethyl)-1.3-phenylene]bis(2-methylpropionitrile)) and exemestane (6-methylenandrostan-1,4-diene-3,17-dione) are therapeutically used to treat hormone-sensitive breast cancer in postmenopausal women. For doping purposes they may be used to counteract adverse effects of an extensive abuse of anabolic androgenic steroids (gynaecomastia) and to increase plasma testosterone concentrations. Excretion study urine samples and spot urine samples from women suffering from metastatic breast cancer, being treated with anastrozole or exemestane, were collected and analyzed to develop/optimize a detection system for anastrozole and exemestane to allow the identification of athletes who do not comply with the internationally prohibited use of these cancer drugs. The assay was based on liquid-liquid extraction after enzymatic hydrolysis following liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Anastrozole, exemestane and its main metabolite (17-dihydroexemestane) were identified in urine by comparison of mass spectra and retention times with respective reference substances. An assay validation for the analysis of anastrozole and exemestane was performed regarding lower limits of detection (anastrozole: 0.02 ng/mL; exemestane: 3.1 ng/mL; dihydroexemestane: 0.5 ng/mL), interday precisions (6.6-11.1%, 4.9-9.1% and 5.6-8.3% for low [10 ng/mL], medium [50 ng/mL] and high [100 ng/mL] concentration) and recoveries (ranged from 85-97%). Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PMID: 16715475 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

[R.B.]

I understand body builders etc use oestrogen blockers including tamoxifen, from a discussion on fats whey protein etc. in a health shop with a person with connections to the industry.

YES it surprised me too, and the apparent lack of knowledge as to what they were used for.

The cost of underground cultures?

I suggested that anybody contemplating such a usage should check the web for the inteded usages side effects etc.

RB