Anabolic steroids are the most frequently detected prohibited substances in

sports. Analysis for these substances is routinely

performed using gas

chromatography

-

mass spectrometry (GCMS) and liquid chromatography

mass spectrometry (LC

-

MS). Although the detection capabilities of LC

-

MS are

limited for the detection of steroids with androstanediol as a back bone to

their structure,

LC

-

MS is often more sensitive for many other steroids.

Moreover, recently several publications have shown that LC

-

MS can detect

steroids (glucuronides) directly in urine without any sample preparation.

The advantages for such a direct urinalysis are multi

-

fold. It reduces costs,

required volume of sample and analysis time, but also it allows for the direct

detection of intact conjugated steroids rather than the liberated steroid

molecules after hydrolysis.

In the past several small scale attempts have bee

n made to detect these

intact steroid conjugates in urine. These attempts were quite successful, but

did not meet WADA’s minimum required performance limits. Recently

however several scientific improvements have been made, including more

sensitive instrume

nts, optimized mobile phase compositions (e.g. methanol

instead of acetonitrile), which now allow for the detection of several steroids

well below WADA’s MRPL. These preliminary results (e.g. 19

-

norandrosterone

glucuronide) show that the direct urinalysis

of steroid conjugates at

concentrations at or below the MRPL is achievable.