40 research outputs found
Erythropoietin doping as cause of sudden death in athletes: an experimental study
Aims: To evaluate the cardiovascular (CV) effects of rhEPO treatment in rats under
chronic aerobic exercise and to assess the probable cause of sudden death in one rat.
Protocol: Male Wistar rats: control - sedentary; rhEPO - 50 IU/Kg/3xwk; swimming
(EX) -1 hr, 3x/wk; EX+EPO. Hematology, catecholamines and serotonin, redox status
and inflammation, were assessed. One rat of EX+EPO group suffered a sudden death
episode.
Results: rhEPO treatment in trained rats promoted several markers of increased CV risk.
The sudden death rat tissues presented: lungs without signs of drowning; brain with
vascular congestion; LV hypertrpphy and deregulations of cardiac fibers, together with
a "cardiac liver", suggesting the hypothesis of heart failure as cause of death.
Conclusion: The sudden death of a EX+EPO rat, due to a cardiac episode, together
with the increased CV risk profile, strongly suggest a high life risk associated to the
continuous rhEPO doping. The anatomo-pathological studies were determinant to
establish the cause of death