 Sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive for steroids |
Research which could make it easier to catch drug cheats in sport is being carried out by scientists at a Scottish university. A new test being developed by researchers at Dundee University could help distinguish between natural and artifical steroids.
It has previously been difficult to identify the difference between testosterone which occurs naturally in the body and anabolic steroids, the pharmaceutically manufactured strain of the hormone.
The discovery could make it easier to catch drugs cheats such as Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, who tested positive for steroids after winning 100m gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
The test works by identifying crucial differences between animal steroids produced in the body, and plant steroids, used by pharmaceutical companies to make the drugs.
'Making steroids'
Professor Mike Rennie, who is leading the team of researchers, said the distinction is relatively simple to detect.
"Plants and animals have very different ways of making steroids," he said.
"Both set of steroids are marked with a distinctive 'signature'.
"We are developing a method, using a very sensitive mass spectrometer, which can distinguish between the natural signatures carried by the carbon and hydrogen atoms in normal bodily testosterone and the testosterone which is made from plant material."
Prof Rennie and his team have received a �100,000 grant from the World Anti-Doping Agency, which was established by the International Olympic Committee in 1999, to help with their research.
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