Stressing the limits of capillary blood in anti-doping analysis: perspectives on alkylamine-like stimulants and carbonic anhydrase II inhibitors in result management

A validated two-step LC-MS/MS protocol can identify 91 prohibited doping agents from a single dried blood spot collected on either cellulose cards or volumetric absorptive microsampling devices. This demonstrates robust multi-analyte screening from capillary blood, supporting decentralised anti-doping programmes where venous sampling is impractical.

Dried Blood Spots for Doping Purpose-Two-Step Protocol for Analysis of Non-Threshold Substances and Anabolic Steroid Esters From One Spot/Pebble — Stojanovic et al., Biomedical chromatography : BMC (paywalled) · source ↗

• blood
• dried
• capillary
• vams
• dbs
• validation
• doping
• toxicology

PEth reference values for Belgium were derived from VAMS microsampling of 487 participants in a national survey, showing distinct biomarker distributions between the general population and higher‑alcohol‑consumption subgroups. This validates capillary blood collection as a practical method for decentralised alcohol monitoring and forensic assessment.

Reference values for the alcohol biomarker phosphatidylethanol (PEth) in the Belgian population: Insights from a nationwide microsampling study — Vandenbroucke et al., Drug and alcohol dependence reports · source ↗

• vams
• neoteryx-mitra
• blood
• dried
• toxicology
• capillary
• biomarkers

This study validated a method for measuring the alcohol biomarker phosphatidylethanol using two volumetric absorptive microsampling devices, finding that the Mitra device met all validation criteria and agreed with venous sampling. The Capitainer device was deemed suitable but showed reduced accuracy at higher concentrations, with a small proportional negative bias compared to venous results.

A validated method for capillary phosphatidylethanol 16:0/18:1 quantification with two different 10-µl volumetric absorptive microsample devices in the same setup — Andreassen et al., Journal of analytical toxicology (paywalled) · source ↗

• vams
• venous-agreement
• neoteryx-mitra
• blood
• dbs
• dried
• toxicology
• capillary
• validation

This study compared four dried blood spot devices for glucocorticoid detection, finding that the Mitra VAMS device offered the best combination of analytical recovery and user usability, whilst the HemaXis DB10 showed the least bias compared to whole blood.

Analytical and usability comparison of microsampling dried blood spot devices for glucocorticoid detection in sports using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry — Chen et al., Analytica chimica acta (paywalled) · source ↗

• vams
• acceptability
• neoteryx-mitra
• doping
• blood
• dbs
• haematocrit
• dried
• toxicology
• hormones
• validation

The authors found that a single microdose of recombinant EPO was detectable up to 72 hours using ITP and CP methods, though the Tasso microsampling device showed lower sensitivity than Mitra and Capitainer. Additionally, isotope ratio mass spectrometry successfully detected testosterone micro-dosing in all analysed samples, supported by serum testosterone levels.

Detection of a Single Microdose of Testosterone and Recombinant EPO in Healthy Volunteers — Heiland et al., Drug testing and analysis · source ↗

• neoteryx-mitra
• doping
• blood
• dbs
• dried
• steroids
• toxicology
• capillary
• hormones
• urine
• validation