Comment · Thu, November 8, 2012
Research Suggests no Neurotoxicity in MDMA
Original post in this thread
PuffyCheek · 194 points
In partial response to what I've been reading in the bestof'd thread here at /drugs, I think it would be good to start a discussion about the neurotoxicity in MDMA.
I feel as if the harmful effects discussed in the thread were overblown. According to a research done by the Harvard Medical School last year in 2011, users who were asked to use MDMA under a controlled setting over a certain period of time showed no signs of cognitive impairment nor decreased mental ability.
So the question remains, why do we have so much evidence from past research studies that show otherwise? The researchers at Harvard Medical School responded by saying that past research studies lacked a proper control environment. What that means is that past research studies did not control their test group to make sure they didn't engage in unhealthy activities after ingesting MDMA (i.e. going to a rave and dancing for 8 hours straight).
No research since 2011 has proved Harvard Medical School's conclusion wrong, that MDMA is actually harmful to your brain. No other research studies that I could personally find had settings as controlled as the one conducted by HMS.
That being said, research was done…
What they were answering
zak13362 · 14 points
While I find your science to be awesome, I have just one teeny tiny possible correction:
>Rats given a known neurotoxic does (20mg/kg, which would be the equivalent of me taking a 264mg dose
How do you weigh 13.2 kg?! (~29 lbs)
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb
Rat doses do not translate directly to human. I calculated the ratio, then multiplied by my body weight. People always forget that rat metabolisms are different than ours.
Take (D*3)/37 for mice, where D is the mouse dosage.
Take (D*6)/37 for rats, where D is the rat dosage.
EDIT: Please note that Km values for rats are going to vary from 5 to 7, given the weight of the rat.