Comment · Tue, August 13, 2013
Mdma and pooping
Original post in this thread
[deleted] · 19 points
DAE poop more than usual the next few days? Why is that?
What they were answering
reductase · 2 points
Hmm... I figured that GI issues from empathogenic drugs was due to systemic serotonin release rather than the drug directly interacting with the receptors... guess it's time for some research.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb
Central 5-HT cannot pass the blood brain barrier, so any increase in serotonin in the brain will not lead to an increase in the stomach. Since the SERT is not expressed in the periphery, and increases in peripheral serotonin are released from mononuclear cells in response to cisplatin, it's unlikely MDMA induced direct 5-HT release is to blame.
It's much more likely that MDMA's slight affinities for certain 5-HT sub-receptors are the cause. 5-HT2B is expressed in the periphery, and MDMA has 5-HT2B affinities. Also, other psychedelics also have 5-HT2B affinities, and many of them cause intense GI upset in certain people. Take the fact that traditional psychedelics do not cause a release of 5-HT, but show similar GI upset to MDMA, and that makes affinities for peripheral 5-HT2B receptors the likely cause.
EDIT: 5-HT2B, not 5-HT2A