Avaliação química e toxicológica de formulações de esteroides anabolizantes androgênicos apreendidas pela Polícia Federal na região sul do Brasil

Abstract

Anabolic androgenic steroids comprise a class of synthetic substances derived from testosterone developed for therapeutic purposes, but illicitly used by recreational and professional athletes. In this sense, formulations of anabolic agents are controlled or prohibited and, once apprehended by law enforcement agencies, need to be analyzed in order to determine their constituents and their possible toxicity. Therefore, the aims of this study was to evaluate extraction methods, to identify analytically and to determine the cytotoxicity of formulations of anabolic agents apprehended by the Federal Police in the southern region of Brazil. Results indicated that the application of microwaves or ultrasound significantly increased the extraction of anabolic agents from their respective formulations. For Product #1, for example, the use of microwaves or ultrasonic probe extracted, respectively, 37.46 ± 1.36 and 35.69 ± 0.98 mg/tablet, whereas the solid-liquid extraction resulted in 29.63 ± 0.40 mg/tablet of the active chemical substance. In turn, the application of analytical techniques allowed the differentiation of genuine and counterfeit formulations while the evaluation of cytotoxicity indicated that the samples may present toxicity. In this sense, the exposure of Product #10 and #11 in concentrations of 0.5 mg / mL had minimum cell viability. Therefore, extraction methods significantly affected the results and, thus, influenced the detection of potentially toxic compounds to the user.