Ricerc@Sapienza

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) includes anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) among the substances
and methods prohibited in sports. The process of steroids detection undertaken by the WADA accredited
laboratories is based on GC-MS(/MS) or LC-MS(/MS) analysis of urinary samples collected from male and
female athletes. The methods routinely used in steroid screening mainly focus on substances that are excreted
unconjugated or as glucuro-conjugates and for this reason common procedures includes enzymatic hydrolysis

5α-Reductase inhibitors are drugs commonly used in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia, androgenic alopecia and hirsutism. The only two pharmaceutical product commercially available and FDA-approved for clinical purpose are Finasteride and Dutasteride. They are both synthetic 4-azasteroids that irreversibly inhibit the 5α-reductase, competing against the substrate,