How they nailed Landis.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

This is how I heard it over a glass of wine from a scientist, who read the actual article. I haven't a link, or anything, just thought it was damn interesting, and would be good in the science forum.

So there are all sorts of tests for steroids. And they're needed, because the athletes keep coming up with all sorts of interesting ways for taking steroids without being detected.

Now the popular method for detecting testosterone abuse these days is to measure the amount of testosterone versus epi-testosterone in the body. There's a natural ratio between the two in a normal subject, and it's not an equilibrium, the body does not convert epi-testosterone into testosterone. So if a person were to take testosterone, the ratio between testosterone and epi-testosterone would be higher than normal. This was the case with Landis, but there's sort of a margin of error and Landis was in it. So this was not a smoking gun. One could imagine that the sneaky athlete could take both epi and regular in the correct ratio to avoid detection. So a crafty scientist needs a better method for detection.

So where does testosterone come from? Is there a way to differentiate the natural stuff from the synthetic stuff? Well, testosterone's made in the body from cholesterol, and cholesterol is eaten from animals, or it can be made in the body from fat. Now fat can be made in the body from sugars, or it can be eaten from animals or plants. Now sugars come from plants, or animals who eat the plants. And how do plants get sugar? They make it from the atmosphere; they use CO2. Now as it turns out, the atmosphere is constantly being bombarded by cosmic rays. And cosmic rays make C14. And that C14 makes its way into CO2, and then into sugars, and then into fats, and then into cholesterol and then into testosterone. So the testosterone we make in our testicles and occasionally other places has a certain amount of C14 in it.

So how do they make synthetic testosterone? Well... turns out it's a natural product too. Its basic backbone comes from plants and animals too. Hmm. However! There are modifications made to the back bone, the side chain, it sits around in organic solvents, etc. And where do these side chains and solvents and whatnot come from? Why, petroleum products!

And while petroleum once had C14, it's been sitting around for millions of years and has lost its C14. So what they did is, they got a high resolution accurate mass of proper, natural testosterone. And they did the same thing with the testosterone found in Landis. And as it turned out Landis had a measurable and scandalous lack of C14 in his testosterone.

And that, ladies and gents, is how they nailed Landis.

Pretty cool, huh?

[SidDithers]

1. Great summary...

thanks for posting!

Sid

[Poll_Blind]

2. That was terribly interesting! Thank you!

  I love posts like this. Thanks!

PB

[n2doc]

3. I thought they used the stable isotope 13C, not 14C

The initial NYT article was pretty explicit on this. But I haven't heard anything more. Frankly, 14C might work if the steroid is completely from peteroleum precursors, but I think they extract it from living organisms so it will have a modern 14C value. Again, I haven't seen anything on this in the press, though.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. I will disclaim...

that it was a casual conversation over dinner, so the details might be muddied like so many children's "telephone" games.

[NNadir]

5. This actually makes chemical sense.

The resolution on modern LC/MS/MS devices is astounding.

If I were Landis though, I could think of several possible confounding mechanisms.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. I assume...

they used one of those big, fancy cyclotron deals.

[NNadir]

7. Not necessary these days.

You can get plenty of mass spec for a few hundred thousand dollars.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Oh, sure.

My grandson's in the business. He was going on and on about the new instrument they got. But he was telling me for the really high res stuff they still use the FT-ICRs. Not him, the other mass spectroscopists. I think he's a bit jealous.

[NNadir]

9. The point is, though, the could have nailed Landis with off the shelf

stuff.

I have to tell you that I am not an analytical chemist, but an organic chemist. Generally I send out for the mass spec.