APPLICATION OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE THIN-LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY AND GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY TO THE DETECTION OF NEW ANABOLIC-STEROIDS USED AS GROWTH PROMOTERS IN CATTLE FATTENING

The misuse of natural and synthetic hormones as growth promoters in cattle fattening, although forbidden within the European Community, is well known. Frequently these hormones are injected into the animal as highly concentrated mixtures (the so-called ''hormone cocktails''), which usually stay locally at the site of injection from where they are distributed by a slow diffusion process. The analysis of these injection sites by an HPTLC method following a simple and unselective extraction yields a good picture of the compounds which are misused. Although almost 40 hormone reference standards are run with the sample, unknown spots regularly appear on the HPTLC plates, demonstrating that attempts are continuously made to bypass the laboratory controls by introducing new products on the black market. By continuously gathering HPTLC data for a broad range of hormones which were not yet known to be used in cattle fattening, it was possible to elucidate quickly the identities of two new spots that appeared on the chromatogram in the period between the end of 1992 and early 1993. These new compounds that were found in injection sites were the gestagens delmadinone acetate and algestone acetophenide. Their identities were confirmed by GC-MS analysis.