Question

1. Explain two ways athletes can blood dope.

2. For each method of blood doping you described, explain how it alters the oxygen-carrying

capacity of blood.

Answer 1

1. Two ways how a athelets can blood dope are, a) EPO (erythropoietin) injections are given to stimulate the production of red blood cells. b) Blood transfusion

a) EPO, Sportsmen and women have been known to dope with the blood hormone Epo to enhance their performance,EPO is a peptide hormone that is produced naturally by the human body. EPO is released from the kidneys and acts on the bone marrow to stimulate red blood cell production, but some athletes misuse it to enhance their perfomance,  EpO has a performance-enhancing effect in the brain shortly after an injection by improving oxygen transport in blood, It increases the number of red blood cells, thereby increasing the transport of oxygen to the muscles this excess oxygen to the working muscles leads to improvements in performance, which can especially give endurance athletes such as cyclists or marathon runners the edge, in addition to this it also helps by increasing the motivation levels.

b) Blood transfusion, There are two forms of blood transfusion, autologus blood transfusion and homologus blood transfusion, Autologous blood doping is the transfusion of one’s own blood, which has been stored (refrigerated or frozen) until needed, Homologous blood doping is the transfusion of blood that has been taken from another person with the same blood type.This type of transfusion resulted in increase in hemoglobin in the blood stream,

Hemoglobin is an oxygen-carrying protein in the blood. So increasing hemoglobin allows higher amounts of oxygen to reach and fuel an athlete's muscles. This can improve stamina and performance, particularly in long-distance events, such as running and cycling, moreover this method is harder to detect by the doping authority as compared to EPO