A new study from researchers at Johns Hopkins University showed that octopuses react similarly to humans when given MDMA, otherwise known as Ecstasy, indicating there may be genetic ties to people and the eight-legged creatures.
Current Biology, a biological sciences journal that publishes original research, released a study this week that showed the usually antisocial invertebrates become quite friendly on low doses of MDMA. Gul Dolen and Eric Edsinger, the study's authors, started by giving them high doses to see if the drug would have any effect at all.
The study revealed that high doses just caused the octopuses to sit in a corner, staring intently at their surroundings. When given a smaller dose though, similar to that a person would take, they became uncharacteristically friendly.
Octopuses are usually so antisocial, researchers have to keep them in separate tanks to prevent them from killing or even eating each other, the study said. Once given the "love drug" though, they could hardly keep from hugging each other.
The researchers put the hand-sized, eight-legged critters in test tubes filled with sea water and liquefied MDMA, so they would absorb the drug through their gills.Then, they put the octopuses in a three-section tank with others to see how they would interact, according to the study.
The octopuses clung to the glass separating them from their fellow invertebrates, the study showed. This indicates there are strong genetic similarities between people and octopuses that cause the molecule serotonin, which is influenced by MDMA, to bind to the brain cells.
Although octopuses and humans are estimated to be evolutionarily separated by 500 million years, these results indicate there is a shared lineage between the two, according to the study.