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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: fj.07-9574LSFv1 22/3/659    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Reagan-Shaw, S. Articles by Ahmad, N. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Reagan-Shaw, S. Articles by Ahmad, N. Related Collections Related Article

Dose translation from animal to human studies revisited

Shannon Reagan-Shaw^*, Minakshi Nihal^*, and Nihal Ahmad^*,,,1

^* Department of Dermatology,

Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center;

Molecular and Environmental Toxicology Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

¹Correspondence: Department of Dermatology, University of Wisconsin, B-25 Medical Science Center, 1300 University Ave., Madison, WI 53706, USA. E-mail: nahmad{at}wisc.edu

As new drugs are developed, it is essential to appropriately translate the drug dosage from one animal species to another. A misunderstanding appears to exist regarding the appropriate method for allometric dose translations, especially when starting new animal or clinical studies. The need for education regarding appropriate translation is evident from the media response regarding some recent studies where authors have shown that resveratrol, a compound found in grapes and red wine, improves the health and life span of mice. Immediately after the online publication of these papers, the scientific community and popular press voiced concerns regarding the relevance of the dose of resveratrol used by the authors. The animal dose should not be extrapolated to a human equivalent dose (HED) by a simple conversion based on body weight, as was reported. For the more appropriate conversion of drug doses from animal studies to human studies, we suggest using the body surface area (BSA) normalization method. BSA correlates well across several mammalian species with several parameters of biology, including oxygen utilization, caloric expenditure, basal metabolism, blood volume, circulating plasma proteins, and renal function. We advocate the use of BSA as a factor when converting a dose for translation from animals to humans, especially for phase I and phase II clinical trials.—Reagan-Shaw, S., Nihal, M., Ahmad, N. Dose translation from animal to human studies revisited.

Key Words: drug dose conversion • body surface area

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