Proceeding of Veterinary and Animal Science Days 2015, 15th- 17th  July,  Milan, Italy 

riviste.unimi.it/index.php/haf                                                                                 1 

   

 

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CORRESPONDING AUTHOR 

Maria Nobile,  

maria.nobile1@unimi.it 

 

 

ABSTRACT  

The European Union regulations ban or regulate the use of substances with hormonal action. There are, 

however, some detectable steroids in biological matrices from cattle to which no administration were made. 

These are the so called “grey-zone” or “pseudoendogenous” substances (endogenously produced under 

certain circumstances). The administration of boldenone and androstadienedione to cattle is forbidden both 

for therapeutic or growth promotion purposes, while therapeutic use of prednisolone is permitted. The 

control of the use of these substances is hampered by their pseudoendogenous nature. We made a 

comparison between analyses performed on the classical matrix urine with bile (a novel matrix) from the 

same animals, with the aim to determine the better matrix for the above mentioned steroids. We tested the 

synthetic corticosteroid dexamethasone, too. The preliminary results do not show any difference between 

the two matrices, as concern the pseudoendogenous substances. The data about dexamethasone were 

instead very promising about the use of bile. The detection frequency and concentration levels were, in fact, 

higher in bile than in urine from the same animals. 

 
REFERENCES  
European Union. 2003. Draft Proposal; Destrez, B., Bichon, E., Rambaud, L., Courant, F., Monteau, F., Pinel, G., 
Antignac, J.P. and Le Bizec, B. 2009. Steroids, 74: 803–808; Chiesa, L., Nobile, M., Panseri, S., Sgoifo Rossi, C. A., 
Pavlovic, R., and Arioli, F. 2014. Analytica Chimica Acta, 852:137–145; Ferretti, G., Palleschi, L., Marchiafava, C., delli 
Quadri, F., Fantozzi, L., Ferranti, C., Cammarata, P., Macrì, A., Montesissa, C. and Draisci, R. 2007. Analytica 
Chimica Acta, 589: 269–274; Vanhaecke, L., Antignac, J.-P., Courtheyn, D., Le Bizec, B., and De Brabander, H. F.2011. 
Steroids, 76: 111–117. 

 

Detection of boldenone, its sulfate and 

glucuronate forms, androstadienedione, 

cortisol, cortisone, prednisolone, 

prednisone and dexamethasone in bovine 

bile and urine by LC-MS/MS: preliminary 

results. 

M. Nobile
1
,L. Chiesa

1
, R. Pavlovic

1
, S. Panseri

1
, F. Arioli

2
 

1 
Department of Veterinary Science and Public Health, Università degli Studi 

di Milano, Via Celoria 10, 20133 Milan, Italy 

2
 Department of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety, University of 

Milan, Via Celoria 10, 20133 Milan, Italy