【经济学人】把小龙虾灌醉|2017.04.22|总第887期

HUMANS are not the only species to enjoy a snifter. Myriad experiments on other animals, from rats and monkeys to bees and fruit flies, show that they also get drunk, will seek out alcohol given the opportunity and may even develop a dependence on the stuff. But alcohol promotes conviviality as well as drunkenness, and that relationship is less well explored. In particular, there are few studies of whether the link is reciprocal—whether conviviality, or at least a sociable environment, affects susceptibility to alcohol. This question has, however, now been looked into. In a paper just published in Experimental Biology, Matthew Swierzbinski, Andrew Lazarchik and Jens Herberholz of the University of Maryland have shown that a sociable upbringing does indeed increase sensitivity to alcohol. At least, it does if you are a crayfish.

在生物界里，并不只有人类会喝酒 。在其它动物（从老鼠猴子到蜜蜂果蝇）身上的大量实验表明它们也会喝醉，如果有机会，还会自己找酒喝，甚至可能会对酒精产生依赖。酒精会提高你的兴奋度，也会让增加你的醉酒程度，但是这两者之间的关系没有被深入的研究过。对于这两者之间是否是相互作用的，是人的兴奋度还是周围的环境影响人们对酒精的敏感性等这些问题的研究就更加少了。不过，现在有人开始研究这些问题了。马里兰大学实验生物学专业的Matthew Swierzbinski，Andrew Lazarchik和Jens Herberholz在刚刚发表的论文中证实，群居的环境的确会能提高动物对酒精的敏感性。至少对小龙虾来说是这样的。

• Snifter： 窄口的酒杯，一口，一杯

• fruit flies：果蝇

• reciprocal：adj.相互的; 互惠的; 倒数的;n.倒数; 互相关联的事物;

• conviviality：n.欢宴，高兴，欢乐;

• susceptibility：n.易受影响或损害的状态，感受性; 感情（脆弱之处）; 磁化系数

The three researchers’ purpose in studying drunken crayfish is to understand better how alcohol induces behavioural changes. Most recreational drugs, from cocaine and heroin to nicotine and caffeine, have well-understood effects on known receptor molecules in brain cells. That is not, though, true of ethanol, as the type of alcohol which gets people drunk is known to chemists. Ethanol’s underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. But one thing which is known is that crayfish are affected by the same concentrations of the stuff as those that affect humans. Since crayfish also have large, easy-to-study nerve cells that can be examined for clues as to ethanol’s molecular mechanisms, Mr Swierzbinski, Mr Lazarchik and Dr Herberholz are using them to try to track those mechanisms down.

三位研究人员研究醉酒后的小龙虾的目的是更好地了解酒精是如何引起行为变化。我们已十分了解大多数娱乐性药物（像可卡因、海洛因、尼古丁、咖啡因等）对脑细胞中已知的受体分子的影响。科学家也已经知道乙醇是很典型的一种让人喝醉的酒，但是乙醇对受体的影响我们却一无所知。对乙醇的潜在分子机制却知之甚少。但是我们已经知道，同溶度的酒精对小龙虾的影响与对人类的影响一样。因为小龙虾神经细胞体积大，易于研究，可以用于研究乙醇分子作用机制的，所以Matthew Swierzbinski，Andrew Lazarchik和Jens Herberholz利用小龙虾研究酒精对受体的作用机制。

• Recreational：adj.消遣的; 娱乐的;

• Mechanisms：n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 ); 机械装置; [生物学] 机制; 机械作用;

Their latest experiment involved 102 of the crustaceans that had each been kept for between seven and ten days in the company of several dozen others, and a further 63 that had been raised in isolation for similar amounts of time. Each crayfish was then transferred individually to a tank containing a solution of ethanol in water, and videoed for three hours to record what happened next.

在最近实验中，他们把102只甲壳类动物分成几个群体，每个群体有几十只，饲养7-10天，然后再分别单独饲养63只甲壳类动物相同的时间。之后将每只小龙虾单独放到装满乙醇水溶液的水槽内，并用录像机记录了三小时内的一些情况。

• Crustaceans：n.甲壳纲动物（如蟹、龙虾）( crustacean的名词复数 );

As might be expected, those animals put into the most concentrated solution, 5.8% by volume, the strength of a potent beer, got pretty drunk. First, they started walking around on tiptoes. Then, they began flicking their tails and doing somersaults (see picture). Finally, the most inebriated ended up lying on their backs, kicking their legs in the air—or, rather, in the water.

正如预料的那样，那些被放入到体积溶度浓度为5.8％的溶液（这是试验中酒精浓度最高的溶液，跟啤酒的溶度差不多）中的小龙虾，都喝醉了。刚开始，他们开始四处摇晃，随后开始摇着尾巴打滚（见图）。最后，喝的最醉的小龙虾背部着地，在空中踢腿，确切的说是在水中踢腿。

• Tiptoes：v.踮着脚走，蹑手蹑脚地走( tiptoe的第三人称单数 ); 转弯抹角地谈论;

• Somersaults：n.翻筋斗( somersault的名词复数 );v.翻筋斗( somersault的第三人称单数 );

• Inebriated：adj.酒醉的;

Crayfish put in weaker solutions, a half or a tenth as concentrated, behaved similarly, but got there more slowly—and, in the case of those in the weakest solution, often managed to avoid the leg-kicking stage altogether. Crayfish, in other words, behave much like a bunch of roisterers out on the town of a Saturday night.

那些被放入到浓度较低的溶液（浓度是最高溶度的一半或者十分之一）中的小龙虾的行为跟放入溶度最高的溶液中的小龙虾的行为相似，但要晚一些才达到它们那种状态。那些放入到浓度最低的溶液中的小龙虾有时候还能控制住，不会踢腿。也可以说，它们就像是一群在周六晚上的小镇上喝酒喧闹的人。

• Roisterers：喝酒喧闹者

Crucially, though, when the researchers examined the videos in detail, to record what happened when, they found that, regardless of alcohol concentration, animals that had spent the previous few days in company got drunk about 25% faster than those that had been kept in solitary confinement.They therefore suspect that society makes whatever receptor molecules it is that interact with ethanol more plentiful in crayfish nervous systems than they otherwise would be. The next stage is to compare nerve cells from social and solitary animals, to try to work out what those receptor molecules might be—and then, if they can be so identified, to see if what is true in crayfish is also true in people.

（期待您的翻译，明天会有针对这句话的长难句解析哟~）因此，他们猜想，群居的生活会影响小龙虾的神经系统中的所有受体，使它们更易与乙醇发生相互作用。接下来要做的就是比较群居小龙虾和单独饲养的小龙虾的神经细胞，找出那些受体分子是什么 – 如果可以确定这些受体分子，那我们就可以知道人类是否跟小龙虾一样，受体会受到周围环境的影响。

• Crucially：adv.至关重要地，关键地;

• Solitary：adj.独自的，独立的; 单个的; 唯一的; 隐居的;n.独居者，隐士; 单独禁闭;

• Confinement：n.监禁，关押; 分娩，生产; 限制，约束;

翻译 ▍上善若水，Sopia.yao

审核 ▍云图

图文编辑 ▍太止

责任编辑 ▍毛毛