The most recent substance in this parade is dermorphin, a relative of heroin that is 40 times more powerful than morphine and is commonly referred to as "frog juice."
Dermorphin is an opiate, another member of the family of illegal drugs of days past. As such it?s designed both to be a painkiller and to increase locomotor activity. It turns out that only a portion of the chemical structure of a molecule of dermorphin actually accomplishes this task?the rest is along for the ride, meaning it could be removed or altered without changing the drug?s effects.
Dr. Rick Sams, director of the HFL Sport Science Lab in Lexington, Ky., said that when news of dermorphin first broke in 2012, he ordered several samples from commercial labs around the country to see what he was dealing with.
One of the first things he found was that the form of dermorphin that is being used in horses is actually not identical to the substance naturally found in tree frogs.
Because dermorphin?s weight is so easily changed, Sams said that there hundreds, if not thousands, of possible variations (called analogues) of dermorphin. Figuring out which one to look for would take an incredibly lucky guess.
Instead,
dermorphin is excellent at creating "increased locomotor activity" in the horse?usually seen by rapid movement or pacing in the stall which is thought to convert to an increased capacity for speed on the track.
Because of this, dermorphin isn?t just useful to trainers who have lame horses in need of some help to appear sound on race day?its ability to increase locomotor activity means it would manipulate any horse?s performance, and the right analogue would be almost impossible to detect.
From and full article at:
http://www.paulickreport.com/news/ray-s-paddock/chasing-the-frog-keeping-up-with-slippery-
cheaters/
