Anyone heard of this "new" form of doping.

[Inquitus]

http://bikepure.org/2012/08/5635/

One very dangerous practice currently being abused by some individuals, is the administration of carbon monoxide into the body.

This highly deadly gas, occupies the sites on the haemoglobin molecule that normally bind with oxygen and is not readily displaced, forming the compound CarboxyHemoglobin.

The artificial performance gain occurs as the body recognises the lack of O2 in the blood because the Carbon monoxide replaces that of Oxygen in the haemoglobin molecule in a Red Blood Cell.

When the body responds to this continued low of oxygen by asking the kidneys to produce more EPO ‘naturally’ to counter the perceived low – thus producing more RBC’s.

This practice is not currently banned so unbelievably cannot be called doping, but it IS gaining an unnatural advantage over honest, natural athletes is unfair and against the honour of sport.

Due to the immense danger of the practice, we are calling for it to be urgently outlawed and mechanisms put in place to detect its abuse.

Carbon monoxide also acts as a vasodilator, widening of blood vessels but the danger exists as it blocks oxygen from getting into the body, which can damage tissues and result in death. The terrifying possible effects of the abuse of the silent killer is below:

 

[ebandit]

?

imagine if riders self administered...............like ricco!

 

[TomasC]

Where is the advantage? You gain new RBC's but lose oxygen-carrying ability of the old ones. Or is that effect temporal (how long)? Or you gain more than you lose?
Also, it is already banned, as generally any artificial blood-manipulation is.

 

[Robert21]

On a similar theme, I was wondering the other day how the development of this particular drug was going. The article mentions it being tested on mice, but in the past it has been said that when it comes to potentially performance enhancing drugs, cyclists are usually the next in line to try them out!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080211172606.htm

The new study shows that the fatigue that marathoners and other extreme athletes feel at the end of a race is caused by a tiny leak inside their muscles that probably also saps the energy from patients with heart failure.

The leak -- which allows calcium to continuously leak inside muscle cells -- weakens the force produced by the muscle and also turns on a protein-digesting enzyme that damages the muscle fibers. The new study found the leak was present in the muscle of mice after an intense three-week daily swimming regimen and in human athletes after three days of daily intense cycling. The same leak was previously discovered by Marks and colleagues in the muscles of animals with heart failure.

The new study also found that an experimental drug developed by the researchers alleviated muscle fatigue in mice after exercise, suggesting that the drug also may provide relief from the severe exhaustion that prevents patients with chronic heart failure from getting out of bed or fixing dinner.

Of course, the research also underlines just what a scam it was when it was argued that Armstrong went faster than other riders because he 'produced hardly any blood lactate' (drawing on the false belief that elevated levels of blood lactate cause fatigue and a burning sensation in the muscles). As well all now know, lactate actually acts as fuel for the muscle cells.

 

[Inquitus]

Where is the advantage? You gain new RBC's but lose oxygen-carrying ability of the old ones. Or is that effect temporal (how long)? Or you gain more than you lose?
Also, it is already banned, as generally any artificial blood-manipulation is.

This was my thoughts, it can only benefit if the carbon monoxide bonded RBC's return to normal after a period of time, leaving the athlete with a higher RBC count as a result of the process.

 

[_frost]

Ever heard of smoking...?

 

[will10]

The benefit of training in traffic

 

[Northern rider]

imagine if riders self administered...............like ricco!

Ricco would be down to his local hardware store for some rubber hose and jubilee clips, then he'd be in the garage.....then a bit later in the hospital (again)

 

[zigmeister]

It is the same thing as altitude training. Instead of having oxygen deprivation and your body then produces more red blood cells, you introduce more carbon dioxide to fool the body into thinking there is less oxygen, which in turns produces the same response, more red blood cells.

 

[Master50]

It is the same thing as altitude training. Instead of having oxygen deprivation and your body then produces more red blood cells, you introduce more carbon dioxide to fool the body into thinking there is less oxygen, which in turns produces the same response, more red blood cells.

Right but the mountain might be too high and you die. I had CO poisoning once. A very mild case equivalent to a pack a day smoker. I felt like crap for days. Seems very dangerous to me.

 

[The Sheep]

what about this:

http://www.businessinsider.com/oxygen-foam-will-save-lives-2012-7

 

[Briant_Gumble]

I don't get this, when I was at school we were taught that when it comes to affinity for Haemoglobin: CO>02>CO2 therefore any CO2 bound Haemoglobin molecules will lose their CO2 and bind O2 when they come into contact with it but there's no reason for CO bound red blood cells to ever bind Oxygen.

Due to the high affinity of CO for Haemoglobin I was taught that they would be bound until the end of the red bloods cell's life (approx 2-3 months).

 

[MacRoadie]

Ever heard of smoking...?

Looks like we'll be stripping another TdF title...

 

[Maxiton]

Ever heard of smoking...?

EDIT: Damn! MacRoadie beat me to it! never mind.

 

[_frost]

Looks like we'll be stripping another TdF title...

Yes, and here goes the green jersey:

 

[spalco]

I don't get this, when I was at school we were taught that when it comes to affinity for Haemoglobin: CO>02>CO2 therefore any CO2 bound Haemoglobin molecules will lose their CO2 and bind O2 when they come into contact with it but there's no reason for CO bound red blood cells to ever bind Oxygen.

Due to the high affinity of CO for Haemoglobin I was taught that they would be bound until the end of the red bloods cell's life (approx 2-3 months).

No, the human body gets rid of CO much faster than that, after a night's sleep half of it is gone, after a couple days it's gone completely. That's what I've read and it's my anecdotal experience as someone who's quit smoking several times as well.

Depending on what dose of CO you need to get the body to ramp up its EPO production it probably is quite dangerous though. I would guess you'd need significantly more than a strong smoker, since I don't think smokers produce more EPO, and even that's enough to make you feel like **** compared to a non-smoker (although of course there's lots of other stuff in cigarettes as well).

I'm guessing the positive effect of the additional EPO are outweighed by the negative effects on your training and that this is both a dangerous and a stupid way of trying to enhance your performance.

 

[MacRoadie]

It's bigger than we thought...

 

[Robert21]

Like father like son, although I reckon Ferrari provided Axel with something rather more potent than cigaretts.

 

[_frost]

No, the human body gets rid of CO much faster than that, after a night's sleep half of it is gone, after a couple days it's gone completely. That's what I've read and it's my anecdotal experience as someone who's quit smoking several times as well.

IIR half time is 5 hours, so fairly quickly.

Depending on what dose of CO you need to get the body to ramp up its EPO production it probably is quite dangerous though. I would guess you'd need significantly more than a strong smoker, since I don't think smokers produce more EPO, and even that's enough to make you feel like **** compared to a non-smoker (although of course there's lots of other stuff in cigarettes as well).

"Smoking--a major cause of polycythemia."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1291690/?page=1

 

[D-Queued]

Like father like son, although I reckon Ferrari provided Axel with something rather more potent than cigaretts.

Thanks. I was about to post something about Eddy increasingly coming across as a sell-out, but my fanboy glasses have apparently been fogged for a long time.

Cannot believe Eddy would do to the sport what he has done.

Dave.

 

[Velodude]

It's bigger than we thought...

I wasn't aware that Sean Connery (James Bond 007) was a cyclist.

 

[FitSsikS]

I'm hoping this story is a bit of an internet rumour.

(I read the link)

CO is a bit of a 'Klingon' when it comes to our hemoglobin and likes hog all the spots the O2 would normally take and not let go. If that's not bad enough, in a CO environment hemoglobin tends to hold on to what O2 it has, not releasing it to the tissues that need it.

Of course this could lead to more athletes getting banned.

They missed their drug tests because they couldn't wake up in time or....ever.