Abstract

After more than one year experience in the screening for recently reported dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (DHCMT) metabolites in our laboratory, it was demonstrated that the most long-term is a steroid tentatively characterized as 4-chloro-18-nor-17β-hydroxymethyl-17α-methyl-5β-androst-13-en-3α-ol (M3) and its 17-epimer, which is less abundant but normally always detectable alongside with M3. In the majority of cases, M3 was shown to be superior to the other known DHCMT metabolites, such as 4-chloro-18-nor-17β-hydroxymethyl-17α-methylandrosta-1,4,13-trien-3-one (“night watch” analog) and 4-chloro-3α,6β,17ß-trihydroxy-17α-methyl-5β-androst-1-en-16-one (metabolite “656”). M3 is best detected by gas chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS), whereas GC-MS could still be used but with much less confidence due to both sensitivity and selectivity issues. In 2011 Moscow Antidoping Centre reported twenty five adverse analytical findings (AAF) for DHCMT, of which only 4 would be declared positive based on the presence of 4-chloro-3α,6ß,17ß-trihydroxy-17α-methyl-5ß-androst-1-en-16-one, and only one - if 6ß-hydroxy-DHCMT would be used as the target. In 2012 twenty eight AAFs for DHCMT have already been reported by Moscow Antidoping Centre as of September 1, 2012, with most of them being solely relied on the detection of M3. Therefore, all antidoping laboratories that are capable of running GC-MS/MS technology are advised to include M3 in their screening methods. Verf.-Referat