From the laboratories of Belarus and China the new frontier of doping that does not change the biological passport: the hemoglobin extracted from Arenicola Marina multiplies the transport of oxygen in the blood by 10. Rome is gearing up
I biochemical laboratory technicians of Minsk, in BelarusE Changchun, In Chinawho are working on it together, they named him Lance A: any reference to a famous American cyclist of the recent past is not accidental. Lance A (and his numerous brothers, children, grandchildren: Lance B, Lance C, etc.) are golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) subjected to injections of a substance called M101, a frozen hemoglobin juice — let’s simplify, apologizing to the scientists — extracted from a vermetto widespread on the coasts of Brittany which is called Arenicola Marina.
This Arenicola is really ugly (15 centimeters of lumpy earthworm with red and purple spots) but boasts almost magical powers. To understand, M101 carries 156 oxygen molecules compared to just four in human hemoglobin and it is efficient not only at 37 degrees in our body but also when it is much hotter or much colder.
In fact, what happens to the various Lance hamsters (but also to nutria and other small mammals) after a cycle of M101 injections? Their blood’s capacity to carry oxygen multiplies tenfoldhypoxia in poorly vascularized tissues suddenly decreases, power and resistance grow much more when our little mice were given stings Epo or transfusions of blood: able-bodied mice transformed into marathon runners, climbers, triathletes with extraordinary qualities.
Side effects? None of those produced by equivalent drugs: no signs of hypertension, vasoconstriction, mood disorders or other, no risk of thrombosis. The super hamsters are fine, in fact they would see even strengthened their immune defenses for the absence of oxidative stress and the anti-inflammatory qualities of M101.
Roditori super dopati (blood manipulations are strictly prohibited by the Wada Code) like their namesake cyclist Lance but unpunished Why marine worm hemoglobin is not detected to classic controls and circulates in the plasma without causing the slightest change in those blood parameters (hematocrit, reticulocytes, ferritin) which trigger the indirect red alarm of the biological passport (dozens of African cross-country skiers disqualified in recent years), with consequent sanction.
Launched by a French laboratory three years ago as truly revolutionary drug to replace transfusions and erythropoietins in war scenarios, in the operating room but also in the preservation of organs intended for transplantation, M101 it is officially the new public enemy number one on the very black list of doping products (there was a lot of talk about it at the last Wada conference in Busan, South Korea) after a series of experiments – clearly for sporting purposes – emerged from laboratories in Russia, Belarus and China (of which the Corriere della Sera has read) both on the Arenicola and on other marine worms widespread in exotic seas and after that someone found the product for human use on the black market and not on the legal one for the only purpose for which it is currently authorized: the preservation of organs.
Of the very noble idea of freeing the world from the storage of natural blood and saving human lives at risk, without wasting time someone would already be taking advantage of it to create post-Epo super athletes with extraordinary power and resistance characteristics.
The problems for anti-doping scientists are many. The first is that the biological passport (primary weapon for identifying and then targeting dopers) is totally ineffective: the substance enters circulation as if it were fresh water, hematocrit and hemoglobin are unchanged during checks. The second is that, to search for Epo in worms, a complex and expensive procedure will be needed (chase it in the plasma, differentiate it from the human one produced for example by an internal lesion, certify its animal origin) and it is mandatory to do so in a very short time: the half-life of the substance is a few hours.
This could be used for this laboratories like the (renovated) one in Rometo which the Milan-Cortina Olympic champions will arrive half a day after the races: if testing for non-human hemoglobin was required by WADAin Rome (like in Lausanne or Cologne) you could get to work immediately, reserving the frozen or dried blood test for the future thanks to ten years allowed for reanalysiswhich often reveal doping plots whose existence was unknown. One thing is certain: Lance hamsters run fast, anti-doping must already be chasing.
