Comment · Wed, April 29, 2020
Preliminary visualizations from my ongoing short anonymous survey for MDMA users
What they were answering
_TheRoomIsOnFire_ · 1 points
Thanks. So the ELI5 that I’m getting from that article is essentially that dose:body weight does not necessarily translate the same from rat to human, and that it’s based on several other factors to find what creates a relatable effect. Then of course that dosage is exaggerated further in order to amplify the contrast in the findings for the study, correct?
Also, can you also elaborate on what the “Dose x 6/37” breakdown is? Thanks!
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb
It's one way to do a simplistic calculation between a rat and a human dose. Again, very simplistic. However, that's what I usually use to get an idea of what an equivalent dose in a human would be. In that study I linked, they make it even more simple by saying divide the rat dose in mg/kg by 6.2. So with that calculation you get 20/6.2 = 3.22mg/kg in humans. Mine would be 20*6/37 = 3.24mg/kg. So very close.
Rats and humans have different metabolic rates. So dose/weight is going to be very different between them. 20mg/kg in a rat is not 20mg/kg in a human. This is where many people get on the idea that some studies are using insane doses, but in reality they are not that insane if you adjust them for the species of animal being studied.