Bioanalysis Research Group, IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute), Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain.
Drug Test Anal. 2013 Apr;5(4):266-9. doi: 10.1002/dta.1450. Epub 2013 Jan 25.
The use of formoterol in sports is allowed by inhalation at the maximum recommended therapeutic dose. Recently, a threshold concentration of 30 ng.mL(-1) was defined by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to distinguish between therapeutic and forbidden use of formoterol. The objective of this work was to evaluate that threshold concentration. Concentrations of formoterol were measured in urine samples collected after administration of 18 µg of inhaled formoterol to five healthy volunteers, and in samples collected in routine doping tests belonging to athletes having declared inhaled formoterol use. Formoterol was detected up to 8 h after administration in all volunteers with concentrations up to 19.6 ng.mL(-1) . From 28 routine samples, 27 had less than 10 ng.mL(-1) of formoterol and only in one of the samples the concentration was 25 ng.mL(-1) . Therefore, administration of formoterol by inhalation at the maximum dose allowed by WADA will not produce false positive results using a threshold concentration of 30 ng.mL(-1) , and the experience up to now in routine doping tests indicates that the probability of obtaining urines with concentrations greater than 30 ng.mL(-1) is close to nil. For this reason, sports authorities should re-evaluate the need of a threshold concentration for formoterol and its practical usefulness.
福莫特罗在运动中的使用允许通过最大推荐治疗剂量的吸入。最近，世界反兴奋剂机构（WADA）定义了 30ng.mL(-1) 的阈值浓度，以区分福莫特罗的治疗性和禁用使用。本工作的目的是评估该阈值浓度。在 5 名健康志愿者吸入 18μg 福莫特罗后采集的尿液样本中测量了福莫特罗的浓度，并在运动员申报吸入福莫特罗使用的常规兴奋剂检测样本中进行了测量。在所有志愿者中，在给药后 8 小时内均检测到福莫特罗，浓度高达 19.6ng.mL(-1)。在 28 个常规样本中，只有 1 个样本的浓度为 25ng.mL(-1)，浓度低于 10ng.mL(-1)。因此，在 WADA 允许的最大剂量下通过吸入给予福莫特罗不会产生假阳性结果，使用 30ng.mL(-1) 的阈值浓度，并且迄今为止在常规兴奋剂检测中的经验表明，获得浓度大于 30ng.mL(-1)的尿液的概率接近零。因此，体育当局应重新评估福莫特罗的阈值浓度及其实际用途的必要性。
