Vitamin B6 protects the gut from stress-induced damage

[haidut]

Stress-induced ulcers are a common issue anywhere in the world where the environment is primed for instilling learned helplessness in people. It looks like vitamin B6 (again, the cheap pyridoxine hydrochloride salt) can help. Furthermore, it looks like B6 may have more general anti-stress action than just reducing ulcers.

http://www.karger.com/Article/Pdf/177735

"...In the stressed animals, the average number of gastric ulcers per mouse was twice as large in the saline-treated group than in the pyridoxine-treated group (p < 0.05). Brain norepinephrine content was almost identical in fasting controls and in stressed mice treated with pyridoxine; in the stressed animals treated with saline, the average norepinephrine content was higher by 15 % and in the fed controls lower by 11 % than in the two preceding groups. Pyridoxine treatment entailed a very significant reduction (p < 0.002) of norepinephrine variability, mainly due to the absence of high values (≧ 750 ng/g of fresh brain) which occurred only in the saline-treated group. Similar results were yielded for brain dopamine. No variations were observed for brain serotonin. These results suggest the antistress effect of pyridoxine."

I can't read the full study b/c it is behind a paywall, but the human equivalent dosage seems to be close to 10mg per day, which is what Ray recommends as well.

 

[AdamCapriola]

I'm curious; how did you calculate that the human equivalent dosage from that study is close to 10 mg per day?

 

[haidut]

I'm curious; how did you calculate that the human equivalent dosage from that study is close to 10 mg per day?

Assuming the administration was intraperitoneal, which is about 20% more bioavailable compared to oral, the conversion formula from mice to human in mg/kg is (((mouse_dose) * 3) / 42). Assume human weight 80kg-100kg. If you substitute the mouse dosage of 1.11mg/kg in the formula you'll get a dosage anywhere in the 6mg-8mg range. So, a human dosage using intraperitoneal administration would be 6mg-8mg, but since we would likely be doing oral then you need about 20% higher dosage, hence close to 10mg. These are not exact calculations obviously, but the conversion formula is legit. It is used by virtually all animal studies and has been tested on how well it predicts human dosage. For well known organisms like mice and rats, it is very accurate in estimating the human dosage.