HILIC-MS/MS Detection of Meldonium in Meat from Emidonol-Treated Calves and Volunteer Urine After Consumption: An Anti-Doping Perspective.

A pilot study was conducted to detect meldonium in raw meat samples from young calves slaughtered 15 and 30 days (n = 3 per time-point) after a 15-day course of Emidonol. Meldonium concentration was also assessed in meat samples after cooking before consumption, as well as in urine samples from volunteers after consuming a single 350 g portion of cooked meat. Urine was collected over 48 h. The maximum mean estimated meldonium concentrations in raw meat samples were 5250 ng/g on the 15th day after drug treatment and 3110 ng/g on the 30th day after drug treatment. The mean estimated meldonium concentrations in medium-rare steak cooked for 10 min (15 days after the course) and baked meat were 2960 and 1970 ng/g, respectively; for the "30-day" samples, these values were 1380 and 760 ng/g. The mean maximum estimated urine meldonium concentrations, which peaked at 2-5 h post-consumption, were 386 and 344 ng/mL for the "15-day" meat, and 258 and 219 ng/mL for the "30-day" meat, respectively. Thus, after eating meat samples contaminated with Emidonol, meldonium can be detected in urine 24-28 h post-consumption; during the first 2-14 h, its concentration can be even higher than the WADA MRPL level, which may result in an inadvertent adverse analytical finding for meldonium in sports drug testing.