ScienceDaily (May 25, 2010) — Exposure to specific bacteria in the environment , already believed to have antidepressant qualities, could increase learning behavior, according to research presented at the 110th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in San Diego. 发表在110届的ASM的研究指出，暴露在特定的细菌可以增强学习行为。 "Mycobacterium vaccae is a natural soil bacterium which people likely ingest or breath in when they spend time in nature," says Dorothy Matthews of The Sage Colleges in Troy, New York, who conducted the research with her colleague Susan Jenks. Mycobacterium vaccae是一种在土壤里的细菌，当我们接触大自然就可以吸到。Dorothy Matthews表示。Matthews和Jenks一起完成了这个研究。 Previous research studies on M. vaccae showed that heat-killed bacteria injected into mice stimulated growth of some neurons in the brain that resulted in increased levels of serotonin and decreased anxiety. 前人研究发现，加热死掉的细胞注射到小鼠里，会刺激一些大脑神经的生长。这是由於血 清素的增加和减少焦虑。 "Since serotonin plays a role in learning we wondered if live M. vaccae could improve learning in mice," says Matthews. 由於血清素会促进学习效果， Matthews and Jenks fed live bacteria to mice and assessed their ability to navigate a maze compared to control mice that were not fed the bacteria. 所以Matthews和Jenks喂了小鼠五只活的M.vaccae，并观察他们在迷宫理的表现。而对照组 并没有被喂食细菌。 "We found that mice that were fed live M. vaccae navigated the maze twice as fast and with less demonstrated anxiety behaviors as control mice," says Matthews. 有吃M. vaccae的小鼠比对照组有两倍的学习能力，而且较不焦虑。 In a second experiment the bacteria were removed from the diet of the experimental mice and they were retested. While the mice ran the maze slower than they did when they were ingesting the bacteria, on average they were still faster than the controls. 接着，停止喂食实验组的老鼠，但结果虽然学习能力下降，整体来说还是快於控制组。 A final test was given to the mice after three weeks' rest. While the experimental mice continued to navigate the maze faster than the controls, the results were no longer statistically significant, suggesting the effect is temporary. 三周後再度测试，发现实验组以及对照组并没有显着差异。这指出这种效果可能是短暂性 的。 "This research suggests that M. vaccae may play a role in anxiety and learning in mammals," says Matthews. "It is interesting to speculate that creating learning environments in schools that include time in the outdoors where M. vaccae is present may decrease anxiety and improve the ability to learn new tasks." 这是一个有趣的研究，M. vaccae对於减少焦虑以及增进学习扮演重要的角色。 -- 原网址： http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100524143416.htm 其实我有个疑问 就是这篇的暴露量是一般人日常生活接触土壤就可以达到 还是要有很高的剂量。 也就是所谓的是否具有生态效度。 但无论如何，这研究颇有趣的，大家多多踏青吧 XD --

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