Serotonin: The Link between Locusts and Party-goers.

January 30, 2009

Inspired by this article in the NYTimes: Serotonin may be key to controlling Locusts

Serotonin May Be Key to Controlling Party-goers

The ubiquitous neurotransmitter, which moderates all kinds of behaviors in all kinds of animals (including locusts), has now been shown to be responsible for turning desert-dwelling humans from stand-offish loners into super-high party-goers.

The discovery, published today in Raver magazine, may lead to methods to block the formation of desert parties. These events, which can cover a few acres and involve hundreds of pill-munching crackheads, can cause noise-pollution and cost thousands of dollars to throw.

As dwindling supplies of ecstasy, ketamine, mushrooms, acid, and whatever else they can get their hands on force humans to party in groups, the party-goers shift in just a few hours from a solitary phase, in which they avoid other humans, to a mutual attraction phase, in which they start dancing and hugging in ever-large groups. Earlier research discovered the sensory stimuli behind this shift: the sight and smell of other humans, and movement of the hips and torsos as the humans dance with each other. (In addition to the behavioral shift, the partier’s appearance often changes, right before their eyes.)

The new research, by Michael L. Analsty of the Bureau of Land Management, Stephen M. Rectums, now of the US Forest Service, and colleagues, shows the chemical basis for the change in behavior.

The researchers discovered the time frame for the behavioral change correlated well with an increase in serotonin in the brain. They then showed if the production or action of serotonin was blocked in solitary humans, those party-goers would never drive to multiple map locations.

“To us this really was the Eureka! moment,” Dr. Analsty said in a telephone news conference announcing the finding. Scientists had struggled to understand party behavior for decades, he said, “and now all of a sudden we understand the process enough to stop it from happening.”

Dr. Rectums said the discovery opens a line of research into ways of blocking specific serotonin receptors, “something that would allow us to stop these parties before they turn on the generator.”