TY - JOUR
T1 - Analysis of illicit glucocorticoid levels in camel hair using competitive ELISA – Comparison with LC–MS/MS
AU - Ashraf, S. Salman
AU - El-Gahany, Wesam
AU - Alraeesi, Ayisha
AU - Al-Hajj, Latifa
AU - Al-Maidalli, Ayisha
AU - Shah, Iltaf
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge and thank the United Arab Emirates University for their funding, Sure grant no. 31S230, 31S345 for the successful completion of this project. The authors also acknowledge, with thanks, the help and support provided to them by staff at the Scientific Centre for Racing Camels, Al Ain, UAE.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
PY - 2020/4/1
Y1 - 2020/4/1
N2 - Accurate, sensitive, and rapid screening of performance-enhancing drugs, including glucocorticoids, is critical to combat doping in animal racing sports. Samples of urine, saliva, and serum are usually used for random screening of controlled substances; however, they tend to provide only acute usage and doping information. Hair testing has the potential to detect long-term drug use in racing animals. In the present study, commercially available ELISA-kits were used to rapidly screen and analyze various natural and synthetic glucocorticoids in the hair of camels. The four glucocorticoids that were screened using the competitive ELISA were hydrocortisone, dexamethasone, flumethasone, and methylprednisolone. However, comparison of the results obtained using the ELISA method with our previously published LC–MS/MS assay did not show a good correlation. The results obtained with the ELISA analysis of hair samples of 27 different camels showed that this technique consistently yielded significantly higher levels of glucocorticoids compared with the LC–MS/MS assay. This is an interesting finding and suggests that commercially available ELISA tests may overestimate the amount of glucocorticoids present in camel hair, perhaps due to specificity and cross-reactivity issues.
AB - Accurate, sensitive, and rapid screening of performance-enhancing drugs, including glucocorticoids, is critical to combat doping in animal racing sports. Samples of urine, saliva, and serum are usually used for random screening of controlled substances; however, they tend to provide only acute usage and doping information. Hair testing has the potential to detect long-term drug use in racing animals. In the present study, commercially available ELISA-kits were used to rapidly screen and analyze various natural and synthetic glucocorticoids in the hair of camels. The four glucocorticoids that were screened using the competitive ELISA were hydrocortisone, dexamethasone, flumethasone, and methylprednisolone. However, comparison of the results obtained using the ELISA method with our previously published LC–MS/MS assay did not show a good correlation. The results obtained with the ELISA analysis of hair samples of 27 different camels showed that this technique consistently yielded significantly higher levels of glucocorticoids compared with the LC–MS/MS assay. This is an interesting finding and suggests that commercially available ELISA tests may overestimate the amount of glucocorticoids present in camel hair, perhaps due to specificity and cross-reactivity issues.
KW - competitive ELISA, corticosteroids, doping, glucocorticoids, hair, illicit drugs, LC–MS/MS, racing camels
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U2 - 10.1002/dta.2750
DO - 10.1002/dta.2750
M3 - Article
C2 - 31840435
AN - SCOPUS:85078655838
SN - 1942-7603
VL - 12
SP - 458
EP - 464
JO - Drug Testing and Analysis
JF - Drug Testing and Analysis
IS - 4
ER -