Cobalt salts administration to athletes: a new treat?

Citation: Giuseppe Lippi, Massimo Franchini, Gian Cesare Guidi. Cobalt salts administration to athletes: a new treat? Doping J News (17 March 2006). Available at: http://dopingjournal.org/news/

Authors: Giuseppe Lippi, Massimo Franchini, Gian Cesare Guidi

Authors Institution: Istituto di Chimica e Microscopia Clinica, Dipartimento di Scienze Morfologico-Biomediche, Università degli Studi di Verona, Ospedale Policlinico G.B. Rossi, Piazzale Scuro, 10, 37134, Verona, Italy; Servizio di Immunoematologia e Trasfusione, Azienda Ospedaliera di Verona, Verona, Italy.

News Release text: Verona, Italy -- (17 March 2006) -- Competition is connatural to human and animal nature. There is rather a long history of techniques and substances employed to enhance the athletic performance and to achieve unfair success in sport, with little knowledge or acceptance of potential detrimental effects on the health (Ref. 1). Owing to the favourable effects on endurance performance and recovery, blood doping has become commonplace to endurance sport disciplines over the past decade (Ref. 2). The currently accepted definition of blood doping contemplates methods or substances administered for non-medical reasons to healthy athletes for improving the aerobic performances. Therefore, it includes means aimed to produce an increased or more efficient mechanism of oxygen transport and delivery to peripheral tissues and muscles. In endurance sports like cycling, triathlon, cross-country skiing or marathon running, boosting the blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity can enhance performances by over 20%. Following the commercial availability of erythropoiesis stimulating substances, namely recombinant erythropoietin (rHuEpo), a black market for it quickly developed. The numerous physiological and practical advantages of Epo encouraged the wide diffusion of this innovative doping technique, which rapidly emerged as a major issue for the public health (Ref. 3). It was not until some years later that reliable laboratory tests for detecting rHuEpo became available (Ref. 4). Given the elite athlete's innate inclination to experiment with novel doping strategies, the scientific community might be facing a new, unpredictable crisis. It is well established that induction of a mild hypoxic condition generates a wide series of adaptative responses (Ref. 5). In the clinical practice, cobalt chloride is administered to treat some forms of anemia. In animal models, the administration of cobalt chloride promotes selective powerful activation of hypoxic genes, including the Epo gene (Ref. 6). The final result of this cobalt-promoted genetic induction is enhanced Epo production and more efficient stimulation of the erythropoietic response, achievable at the moderate oral dose of 30 mg/kg (Ref. 7).
Although high serum cobalt has been anecdotally reported in athletes (8), there are as yet no definitive evidences of its administration to improve the athletic performances. Nevertheless, we can not rule out that cobalt misuse in athletes might become a serious risk for the very next future, along with gene doping (Refs. 6, 7). Inorganic cobalt salts administration is potential detrimental for the athlete’s health, as it largely accumulates in liver and kidney, promoting organ damage and dysfunction due to enhanced oxidative stress, even at a low dosage of 33.3 mg/kg (Ref. 6). Excessive cobalt administration might also negatively influence the thyroid activity. Owing to this severe and unpredictable side effects, cobalt chloride administration might reveal as a serious threat for the scientific community and for the athletes’ health. Cobalt is not currently included within the list of banned substances issued by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Although, testing for cobalt administration during competition may lead to wasted efforts, as its pharmacodynamic properties discourage misuse near or at the time of competition, effective strategies for unmask this potentially deleterious doping practice are compelling. Accordingly, the WADA is currently working on the introduction of cobalt salts testing within revised antidoping panels (Ref. 8).

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