Metabolomics workflow as a driven tool for rapid detection of metabolites in doping analysis. Development and validation.

The application of metabolomics tools as an investigation strategy could reduce the time and resources required to identify and characterize intake markers maximizing the information that can be extracted from the data and extending the research field by avoiding a priori bias. Therefore, metabolic fingerprinting of prohibited substance intakes could be an appropriate analytical approach to reduce the risk of false-positive/negative results, aiding in the interpretation of "abnormal" profiles and discrimination of pseudo-endogenous steroid intake in the anti-doping field.