Giving ecstasy to octopus taught researchers something important about the brain

A new study suggests that humans may have more in common with octopuses than they appear: they both respond to at least one psychoactive drug in a similar and sociable way.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University and the Cape Cod Marine Biology Laboratory have found that, like humans, notoriously reserved (and sometimes violent) octopuses act in a friendly and social manner when exposed to the MDMA, called ecstasy or Molly. This finding, published in Current Biologyis more than just a feast: it suggests that octopuses and human brains are fundamentally similar in some ways, which means that researchers could use marine creatures to learn about the human brain.

MDMA boosts euphoria in humans in part by increasing serotonin neurotransmitter levels in the brain. A careful examination of the octopus genome showed researchers that a protein involved in this process in humans seemed very similar in marine creatures, suggesting that "pharmacologically, we could predict that MDMA should work in octopus as it the fact in humans "Eric Edsinger, a researcher at the Marine Biology Laboratory, said in a statement.

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To test this hypothesis, the research team placed octopuses in an interconnected three-chamber tank designed to test sociability. The "social" room contained another octopus (sitting under a pot of orchids full of holes, in case fights broke out), while the room "object" contained a figurine of Star wars Chewbacca character. Octopuses were placed in the center chamber and left in the setup for 30 minutes.

Before receiving the dose of MDMA, octopuses of both sexes tended to spend more time in the social room if the other octopus was a female, but more time in the object chamber if this Was a man. After spending 10 minutes in a bath of low-dose MDMA, the octopuses were much more likely to spend time with male octopi next to it, even going so far as to "kiss" the pot under which they were sitting.

The results suggest that MDMA actually stimulates many of the prosocial behaviors in octopuses, as in humans, suggesting that serotonin regulates social processes since humans and octopus became distinct species 500 million years ago. # 39; years.

Researchers warn that the results are preliminary and need to be replicated – but they may one day open a whole new avenue of research for scientists looking to learn more about the human brain and how it responds to substances like MDMA.