Metabolic and isotopic signature of short-term DHEA administration in women: Comparison with findings in men.

The impact of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) administration has been widely studied for anti-doping purposes in men, whereas only a few studies have been performed in women. In the present study, the impact of DHEA on the steroid profile parameters and their carbon isotopic ratios was explored. Eleven healthy young women and 10 healthy young men received two treatments: One with 100 mg/day of DHEA for 28 days and one with a placebo according to a double-blind crossover protocol. Urine and saliva (only in females) samples were collected before and for 72 hours after each short-term treatment. In all female subjects, concentrations of the urinary parameters of the steroid profile were highly impacted by short-term DHEA administration including epitestosterone (E). Gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS) analysis was performed and positive results were observed for E in the four female subjects where E concentration was adequate for such analysis, whereas men results remained negative for E. Last, the ability of the Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS) software used for the athlete biological passport to identify such doping was assessed. Of the 11 passports generated for female subjects, 10 were automatically classified as an atypical passport finding (ATPF). For the remaining passport with normal status in one woman, the variability of the concentrations prevented the ADAMS software from adjusting individual limits. The most impacted markers in women were T/E and 5αAdiol/E, with a detection window of 36 hours for 5αAdiol/E. In addition, good correlations were observed for DHEA and T concentrations in urine and saliva in females.