Kwok Karen Y, Kwok Wai Him, Wan Terence S M, Brooks Lydia, Popot Marie-Agnes, Jaubert Murielle, Bailly-Chouriberry Ludovic, Heffron Brendan T, Choo Chak Kwen, Tso Juanita, Tso Richard, McKenzie Bob, Selvadurai Naomi, Batty David, Gray Bob, Hudson Adam, Ragazzoni Stefania, Claudio Mariani, Ho Emmie N M
Racing Laboratory, The Hong Kong Jockey Club, Sha Tin, Hong Kong, China.
Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Drug Test Anal. 2025 Aug;17(8):1260-1268. doi: 10.1002/dta.3832. Epub 2024 Nov 25.
The use of alkalinising agents prior to racing for manipulating performance in the horse has been identified since the 1990s. To mitigate the risk, an international threshold for available carbon dioxide in equine plasma based on analyses using the Beckman Synchron EL-ISE analyser was adopted in 1994 by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) and revised from 37 to 36 mM in 2004. In 2009, the technical support for the above instrument was discontinued by its manufacturer. Based on the same measurement principle (i.e., ion selective electrode), the Beckman DxC600 analyser was selected as an alternative and validated against the protocol developed by the Association of Official Racing Chemists (AORC). Recently, the DxC600 analyser is also no longer supported by Beckman. Various alternative methods for measuring total carbon dioxide (TCO) in plasma have been explored. Among these, a headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-GC/MS) method was first reported by the Analytical Forensic Testing Laboratory (AFTL) in 2017. Methods based on the same measurement principle were later developed by different horseracing laboratories. With the objective of cross-validating the new HS-GC/MS methods and to establish an absolute (rather than instrument-dependent or empirical) threshold, an international research collaboration was initiated among different racing laboratories. This paper describes the results of cross-validation studies conducted in November 2019 and December 2022 using horse administration samples from Canada and France, respectively, the determination of a threshold based on population data, and some technical insights on the HS-GC/MS methods.
自20世纪90年代以来，人们就已发现赛前使用碱化剂来操控马匹比赛表现的情况。为降低风险，国际赛马管理机构联合会（IFHA）于1994年采用了基于贝克曼同步EL - ISE分析仪分析得出的马血浆中有效二氧化碳的国际阈值，并于2004年从37毫摩尔修订至36毫摩尔。2009年，该仪器的制造商停止了对其技术支持。基于相同的测量原理（即离子选择性电极），选择了贝克曼DxC600分析仪作为替代，并根据官方赛马化学家协会（AORC）制定的方案进行了验证。最近，贝克曼也不再支持DxC600分析仪。人们探索了多种测量血浆中总二氧化碳（TCO）的替代方法。其中，顶空气相色谱 - 质谱联用（HS - GC/MS）方法于2017年首次由分析法医检测实验室（AFTL）报道。后来不同的赛马实验室开发了基于相同测量原理的方法。为了对新的HS - GC/MS方法进行交叉验证并建立一个绝对（而非依赖仪器或经验）的阈值，不同的赛马实验室发起了一项国际研究合作。本文描述了分别于2019年11月和2022年12月使用来自加拿大和法国的马匹给药样本进行交叉验证研究的结果、基于群体数据确定阈值的过程以及关于HS - GC/MS方法的一些技术见解。
