What's in That Urine? How Mass Spectrometry Can Find Out
If you watched the most recent summer Olympics, you might have heard commentators discussing performance-enhancing drugs. These are drugs designed to give athletes an advantage over other athletes. However, the use of performance-enhancing drugs is not allowed in the Olympics. The world Olympics community takes performance-enhancement abuse very seriously, and they will stop at nothing to weed out those athletes—and teams—that are abusing them. The new weapon designed to identify illegal performance-enhancing drugs is called mass spectrometry. It can locate even trace amounts of illegal substances in the body. Wondering how the technology works? Here's a simplified explanation.
First, Some Key Terms
When it comes to mass spectrometry, it's important to understand a few key terms first. You see, this technology requires a team, which consists of equipment, scientists, and the technology itself. Here are some terms you need to know.
Mass Spectrometist
The mass spectrometist is the most important part of the team. This is the analytic chemist who will send the samples through the testing phase to determine whether there are elevated levels of performance-enhancing drugs.
Mass Spectrometry
Mass spectrometry is the technology that allows microscopic particles to be identified in individual samples—such as an athlete's urine
Mass Spectrometer
The mass spectrometer is the machine used to perform the analysis. Depending on the needs of the facility, a mass spectrometer may be a portable unit, or it can be so large that it requires its own room.
Mass Spectrum
Mass spectrum is the actual output of the information. In most cases, the test results will appear as peaks and valleys across the screen. The peaks will signify where specific chemical counts are elevated.
Second, Here's What Happens
During the testing, the urine sample is placed inside the mass spectrometer. As the urine is tested, its atoms and molecules are being hit with a magnetic field. The magnetic field causes the atoms and molecules to bounce around. Throughout the process, three separate functions are being carried out: ionization, mass analysis, and detection.
Ionization
In order for the atoms to be deflected by the magnetic field, they have to be electrically charged. That's what happens during the ionization process. As electrons are knocked off the chain, the atoms become electrically charged.
Mass Analysis
During the analysis portion of the process, the sample is exposed to an external magnetic field, which causes the atoms to bounce even faster. Some of the atoms will be deflected. This occurs when there are illegal substances in the sample.
Detection
When performance-enhancing drugs are found in the sample, the mass spectrometer will display those findings on the detection graph. They will appear as the peaks and valleys. This will alert the mass spectrometist that the sample has tested positive.
Now you know a mass spectrometer can be used to identify performance-enhancing drugs in a small vial of urine.
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