This index lists 22 Knowledge Center items.
- Anabolic steroid — What is an anabolic steroid?
Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are synthetic androgens derived from testosterone, used to boost muscle mass and strength. Prohibited in tested sport.
- Angiogenesis — How does angiogenesis work?
Angiogenesis is the growth of new blood vessels from vessels that already exist, driven mainly by VEGF signalling in oxygen-starved tissue.
- Anti-doping — How does anti-doping work?
Anti-doping is the system of rules, testing, and sanctions used to detect and deter prohibited performance-enhancing substances and methods in sport.
- Appetite regulation — How does appetite regulation work?
Appetite is set by hormones from the gut and fat tissue acting on the hypothalamus, which weighs hunger against fullness and adjusts intake.
- BDNF — What is BDNF and what role does it play in the brain?
BDNF is a growth factor that keeps neurons alive and strengthens synapses. It underpins learning, memory, and the brain's capacity to rewire itself.
- Bioactive molecules — What are bioactive molecules?
Bioactive molecules are compounds — peptides, small molecules, or biologics — that produce a measurable effect on a living organism via receptor binding.
- GLP-1 receptor agonist — How do GLP-1 receptor agonists work?
Peptide drugs that mimic glucagon-like peptide-1 to boost insulin secretion, slow gastric emptying, and cut appetite. Approved for type-2 diabetes and obesity.
- Growth hormone — What is growth hormone and how does it work?
A 191-amino-acid peptide hormone from the anterior pituitary that stimulates growth and IGF-1 production. Prohibited under WADA as a performance enhancer.
- Growth hormone secretagogue — How do growth hormone secretagogues work?
A class of compounds that stimulate the pituitary to release endogenous growth hormone via the ghrelin/GHS or GHRH receptor. Prohibited in tested sport.
- Incretin hormones — What are incretin hormones and how do they work?
Incretins are gut hormones — GLP-1 and GIP — released when food arrives; they raise insulin only when glucose is high, and they blunt appetite.
- Inflammation — How does inflammation work?
Inflammation is the body's first response to injury or infection: vessels widen, immune cells arrive, and cytokines coordinate clean-up and repair.
- Insulin-like growth factor 1 — What is IGF-1 and what does it do?
IGF-1 is a 70-amino-acid peptide hormone that mediates growth hormone's anabolic effects on muscle and bone. It is banned by WADA as a performance enhancer.
- Mitochondria — What are mitochondria and what do they do?
Mitochondria are the organelles that turn fuel and oxygen into ATP. They carry their own DNA and also govern cell death, calcium, and heat production.
- Natural bodybuilding — What is natural bodybuilding?
Natural bodybuilding is competitive physique sport in which athletes build muscle without anabolic steroids or other substances banned by tested federations.
- Oxidative stress — What is oxidative stress?
Oxidative stress is the imbalance between reactive oxygen species and the antioxidant defences that neutralise them, leaving cell components damaged.
- Performance-enhancing substance — What is a performance-enhancing substance?
A drug or biologic used to boost athletic performance beyond what training, diet, and recovery alone achieve; prohibited in tested sport when listed by WADA.
- Selective androgen receptor modulator — What is a SARM and how does it work?
SARMs are non-steroidal compounds that bind the androgen receptor with tissue selectivity, favoring muscle/bone effects over androgenic ones. Banned in sport.
- Therapeutic use exemption — How does a therapeutic use exemption work?
A formal authorisation under the WADA Code permitting an athlete to use an otherwise prohibited substance for a documented medical condition.
- Tissue repair — How does tissue repair work?
Tissue repair works in four overlapping stages — clotting, inflammation, rebuilding, and remodelling — and usually ends in scar rather than perfect regeneration.
- WADA Code — What is the WADA Code?
The World Anti-Doping Code is the core document harmonising anti-doping rules and regulations across sport organisations and public authorities worldwide.
- World Anti-Doping Agency — What is the World Anti-Doping Agency?
WADA, founded in 1999, is the international agency that publishes the World Anti-Doping Code and the annual Prohibited List used by sport federations worldwide.
- Wound healing — How does wound healing work?
Wound healing closes a break in the skin by clotting, clearing debris, resurfacing the gap with new epithelium, and remodelling the collagen underneath.
