Application of Skyline software for detecting prohibited substances in doping control analysis

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Biochemistry
• Forensic Science

Background:

• Increasing numbers of prohibited substances necessitate advanced doping control methods.
• Current doping analysis relies on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry but lacks integrated data processing.
• Vendor-specific software hinders comprehensive analysis from method development to reporting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate Skyline as a unified, vendor-neutral platform for doping control.
• To evaluate Skyline's utility in method optimization, data quality monitoring, and validation for prohibited substances.
• To compare Skyline's efficiency against commercial software in doping analysis.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Skyline, an open-source software for targeted proteomics, for doping analysis.
• Optimized collision energies for 339 prohibited substances.
• Performed method validation and quantitative analysis, visualizing results within Skyline.

Main Results:

• 195 out of 339 substances showed >110% signal intensity increase after collision energy optimization.
• Skyline facilitated efficient data visualization, extraction, and calculation for method validation and analysis.
• Skyline demonstrated advantages over TraceFinder in terms of time consumed and suspicious samples screened.

Conclusions:

• Skyline provides a simple, unified platform for comprehensive doping control.
• The software enhances efficiency and accuracy in detecting newly prohibited substances.
• Skyline offers a superior alternative to commercial software for doping analysis workflows.