New study done on DMT in rat brains following cardiac arrest.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-45812-w#Fig4
Not all of the rats had DMT present following CA. Why some would and others would not is a mystery.
Some speculation from the authors that DMT + other unknown chemicals = NDE.
The authors claim that it is unknown whether or not the amount of DMT released in the rats would be sufficient to induce a trip that would be NDE-like. The purpose of the DMT being released and its function is also unknown according to the study.
My questions would be, if DMT is discovered in humans as well to be released in a surge would it refute NDEs?
Personally, I'm not sure it would. It's very hard to imagine that the DMT binding to the receptors in an unconscious brain state could cause an experience like an NDE.
The study they cited for the DMT similarity with NDEs was discussed before as well I thought and was shown that there were major differences, not similarities?
Would be interesting to see if anything like this would happen if the rats were on anesthesia, since people have NDEs and OBEs on anesthesia as well. Doubt a study like that would ever happen, though.
Regardless if DMT is present during CA, they would still have to account for SDEs, group NDEs, and all NDEs not during cardiac arrest (and I doubt DMT is being released in instances where the brain does not have a severe threat or lack of oxygen, if it even does happen).
Biggest thing that has to happen is to measure the DMT found in the rats and compare it to the amount of DMT a regular trip would take to produce an NDE-like experience. Not sure why the authors did not do this already as I would imagine they have the tools at their disposal.
EDIT: After further research, it seems to be able to induce a strong DMT trip it would take 25 milligrams. Pineal gland produces about 30 micrograms of melatonin over an entire day. So, it seems extremely unlikely it would be able to produce even 10 milligrams of DMT in a couple of minutes while dying, much less 25.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/...1810/does-dmt-model-the-near-death-experience
Additionally, the article I found goes into the main differences between NDEs and DMT for anyone interested.
From a purely materialistic perspective, a DMT explanation would satisfy me, but it seems so unlikely and farfetched based on the amount that would have to be produced to trigger a real trip rivaling a described NDE experience. Really shows how weak the position is, its seriously grasping at straws. I mean I understand its rats, but theyre measuring the DMT in nanomolars! Its so small.
How the measurement would translate to humans we can only speculate.
Based on what happened in this study, the DMT doubled or tripled at times during CA. Even if you doubled or tripled what the baseline DMT amount is in the human brain (assuming its in micrograms like melatonin) you would not even get close to even 2 or 3 milligrams. And you need MUCH more to produce a trip.
I am in disbelief over how disingenious these scientists are. I can't believe I used to respect these people. If you take 10 minutes to look into how much DMT would be needed in reality to produce the effect, it is so absurdly irrational to even speculate that it's the main cause of the NDE. Its just so basic... to a rational minded person it just makes zero sense. To anyone just looking at the data it makes zero sense. Really makes me wonder about academia.
Am I missing something or is this as absurd as I am seeing it?