Professor Michael Buono, Personal communication, (December 16, 1995).

Professor Michael Buono had some very interesting things to say about blood testing. It is possible to test for everything that is of concern at this time (HGH, Erythropoietin, Free-testosterone, etc.).

1. He has a simple test that requires only a finger prick for assessment. This can be done immediately with a portable device and has the potential for use to test every swimmer at a meet as they come through the door. Results would be available before races started. It is this.

   When an individual is on steroids, the level of HDL cholesterol is depressed unbelievably low. Nothing else will suppress it that low. So a finger prick or ear-lobe sample could be assayed AS A SCREENING MEASURE. Athletes with phenomenally low levels of HDL cholesterol (less than 30% of normal) could then be called back for another sample and a full detailed assay done on them for steroids and any other chemical compound.

   The marker is the huge deficiency in HDL level. Individuals just do not go around with 30% of the normal value unless some substance, that is, steroids, has caused such a radical change.

   IT IS A TEST THAT COULD BE DONE CHEAPLY, ON THE SPOT, AND WITHOUT WARNING TO ANY ATHLETE.

   It is not possible or rather, not known at this time, how to mask steroids and steroid effects in the blood. For example, the masking diuretic that dilutes the urine sample so much would actually CONCENTRATE the substance in the blood.

   David Costill has published on this HDL phenomenon in the Physician and Sportsmedicine (I think) but it could be Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

2. For HGH and erythropoietin the tests are easy, but more expensive and require a larger blood sample (5 ml would be more than enough). Confirming tests using these larger samples, particularly conducting dual assays to establish reliability, might only be performed on those athletes with the abnormally low HDL reading and medalists in events.

The only problem with this is the invasiveness of blood sampling, in particular, the venipuncture procedure.

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