都說狗鼻子靈，但是科學(xué)家近日發(fā)現(xiàn)，螞蟻的鼻子比狗還靈。只需短時(shí)間的訓(xùn)練，螞蟻就能迅速識別出人體的癌細(xì)胞，甚至還能區(qū)分不同癌細(xì)胞，未來或可大量應(yīng)用于臨床診斷。

Ants have the ability to sniff out cancerous cells in humans, a new study has discovered, suggesting they could be used for cancer diagnosis in future.

一項(xiàng)新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，螞蟻能嗅出人體內(nèi)的癌細(xì)胞，這表明螞蟻可用于未來對癌癥的診斷。

Researchers from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) discovered that ant species Formica fusca has a well developed sense of smell.

法國國家科學(xué)研究中心的研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，絲光褐林蟻的嗅覺非常發(fā)達(dá)。

It was able to differentiate cancerous cells from healthy cells in humans, thanks to their sense of smell, limited trials revealed. But more clinical tests must be carried out before they could be used in clinical settings like hospitals, the team said.

有限的試驗(yàn)顯示，這種螞蟻的嗅覺超強(qiáng)，能夠?qū)⑷梭w的癌細(xì)胞同健康細(xì)胞區(qū)分開來。但是該研究團(tuán)隊(duì)表示，還需要進(jìn)行更多臨床測試才能將絲光褐林蟻用于醫(yī)院等臨床環(huán)境中。

They suggest that in future, ants could turn out to be better at dogs when it comes to locating cancerous cells in humans.

研究人員指出，未來在識別人體癌細(xì)胞方面，螞蟻可能會比狗做得更出色。

To conduct their research, the scientists performed tests with 36 ants, smelling cells under a laboratory setting.

為了開展這一研究，科學(xué)家用36只螞蟻進(jìn)行了測試，讓它們在實(shí)驗(yàn)室環(huán)境中聞細(xì)胞的氣味。

First, the specialists exposed the ants to the smell of a sample of cancerous human cells. This odor was then associated with a reward of sugar solution.

首先，科學(xué)家讓螞蟻聞一份人體癌細(xì)胞的樣本，每當(dāng)螞蟻聞癌細(xì)胞，就會給它們糖液獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)。

In a second step, the researchers exposed the ants to two different odors. One was a new smell and the second was the smell of the cancerous cells.

接下來，研究人員讓螞蟻聞兩種不同的氣味。一種是新氣味，另一種是癌細(xì)胞的氣味。

Once this test was successful, the researchers exposed the ants to different cancerous cells.

這一測試獲得成功后，研究人員又讓螞蟻聞兩種不同的癌細(xì)胞。

As such, the scientists found that 'ants discriminate between cancerous and healthy cells and between two cancerous lines.'

于是，科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)“螞蟻能將癌細(xì)胞和健康細(xì)胞區(qū)分開來，也能分辨不同的癌細(xì)胞”。

After training, Formica fusca ants are able to detect volatile organic compounds emitted by cancerous cells.

經(jīng)過訓(xùn)練，絲光褐林蟻能夠識別出癌細(xì)胞散發(fā)出的揮發(fā)性有機(jī)化合物。

'This first study shows that ants have high potential, are capable of learning very quickly, at lower cost, and are efficient,' points out CNRS in a news release.

法國國家科學(xué)研究中心在一份新聞稿中指出：“這項(xiàng)初步研究表明，螞蟻擁有巨大的潛力和快速的學(xué)習(xí)能力，不僅成本低還高效?！?/p>

This isn't the first time that scientists have used the animal sense of smell to locate cancerous cells.

這不是科學(xué)家第一次利用動物嗅覺來識別癌細(xì)胞。

'Dogs' noses are well suited for medical diagnosis and used for the detection of cancer-specific [volatile organic compounds],' the researchers explained.

研究人員解釋道：“狗鼻子很適合用于醫(yī)療診斷以及識別癌細(xì)胞（的揮發(fā)性有機(jī)化合物）?！?/p>

However, training them to do so requires several months to a year.

但是，讓狗學(xué)會識別癌細(xì)胞需要長達(dá)幾個(gè)月至一年的訓(xùn)練。

On the other hand, 'insects can be easily reared in controlled conditions, they are inexpensive, they have a very well-developed olfactory system and hundreds of individuals can be conditioned with very few trials,' the researchers point out.

研究人員指出，與此同時(shí)，“在受控條件下養(yǎng)殖昆蟲很容易，成本低廉，而且昆蟲嗅覺發(fā)達(dá)，只需幾次測試就能訓(xùn)練出數(shù)百只昆蟲。”

'Ants therefore represent a fast, efficient, inexpensive, and highly discriminant detection tool for detection of cancer cell volatiles,' the team explained.

該團(tuán)隊(duì)解釋說：“因此螞蟻?zhàn)鳛樽R別癌細(xì)胞揮發(fā)物的工具，既快速、高效、廉價(jià)，辨別力又強(qiáng)?！?/p>

'Our approach could potentially be adapted to a range of other complex odor detection tasks including the detection of narcotics, explosives, spoiled food, or other diseases, including malaria, infections, and diabetes.'

“我們的方法未來也可用于其他一系列復(fù)雜的氣味識別任務(wù)，包括識別毒品、爆炸物、過期食品或瘧疾、傳染病、糖尿病等疾病?！?/p>

The findings have been published in the journal iScience.

這一研究結(jié)果被發(fā)表在《交叉科學(xué)》期刊上。

英文來源：每日郵報(bào)

翻譯&編輯：丹妮