Class, please turn your books to page #236 as we discuss the two different types of testing for HGH:

Believe it or not, there are actually two distinct methods for testing, developed by two independent teams. The first test is called the “isoform approach”, which in the words of the researchers, “directly analyzes the spectrum of molecular isoforms in circulation: the pituitary gland secretes a spectrum of homo- and heterodimers and – multimers of a variable spectrum of hGH isoforms, whereas rhGH consists of the monomeric 22,000 Da isoform only.” In Layman’s, this means that synthetic hGH can differ slightly from the hGH made by your pituitary. An isoform just means a different type of the same protein, kind of like how you can have a red chair and a blue chair, but they are both chairs. This test was developed in Berlin, Germany led by Professor Christian Strasburger and appears to be the test used to catch out Terry Newton. Unfortunately this test only works for a few days after hGH use.

The second test is known as the “marker approach” which was developed at Southampton University in England led by Professor Peter Sonksen. It involves looking at GH-dependant biomarkers IGF-I and type 3 procollagen (P-III-P) which appear to vary differently from endogenous and exogenous GH. This test claims to be able to test up to 14 days after use, which is quite incredible for a drug once thought to be impossible to detect. The World Anti-Doping-Agency (WADA) is looking to combine these testing methods into one robust testing procedure.

Got that? It took me 3x to grasp most of it.

Let’s wait and see what WADA is able to concoct and what courses of action MLB take.