Urinary excretion profile of luteinizing hormone in Brazilian athletes

Abstract

Luteinizing hormone (LH) can be used by athletes as an alternative way to take illicit advantage of androgenic effects, since it stimulates the secretion of testosterone by the Leydig cells. As consequence, LH use is illegal for Male athletes and the hormone is included in the World Anti.Doping Agency (WADA) prohibited list. Since LH is an endogenous substance, the strategy used to allow the detection of LH abuse was the establishment of a reference value. All analyses were developed by IMMULITER, which was submitted to a complete validation performance with urine. The hormone showed to be stable at 4 °C and -20 °C for at least 40 days and for 10 days at room temperature and unstable after the second cycle of freezing and thawing. The reference population of Male Brazilian athletes showed a cut-off value of 37.4 mIU mL-1. The results indicate the assay is suitable for application in doping control analysis.