Blood doping in sports: a contemporary review

Aim. Based on a review of international literature, this paper aims to explore potential methods for detecting blood doping – a method of doping that is challenging to diagnose – specifically the use of whole blood and erythrocyte mass in competitive athletes. Materials and methods. This research is based on international scientific publications retrieved from the PubMed® database using the keywords ‘doping’ and ‘blood doping’. Results. The first scientific research aimed at detecting blood doping in athletes dates back to the 1970s and 1980s. Information on this problem accumulated gradually, in parallel with the exposure of dishonest athletes. Meanwhile, the attempts of Swedish and English authors to develop an effective method for blood doping detection have not been successful, as the proposed techniques detected blood doping mostly indirectly. For over a decade, the problem remained unresolved, until Australian and Spanish researchers made significant progress. Conclusion. Blood doping can be detected using flow cytometry and genetic methods, specifically the analysis of miRNA and mRNA in erythrocyte membranes, which allows for the detection of cells that have been stored for a certain period of time and reveals an abnormal size distribution of old cells. Moreover, plasticizer metabolites from blood transfusion systems can be detected in the urine of athletes who abuse blood doping. However, all of the aforementioned methods require further refinement, as none of them can guarantee a definitive result.