新奇事件簿 科学家称毒瘾可能由于基因遗传（在线收听）

Scientists have discovered that addictions may be hereditary. A team from Britain’s University of Cambridge found that siblings of drug addicts share the same brain abnormalities as their drug-using brothers and sisters. The research team said these abnormal brain structures are linked to poor self-control and drug dependence. The researchers suggest that addiction is in some ways a “disorder of the brain”. This may provide important new ways into helping people with problems of self-control when it comes to addictions. The study sought to find out if drugs changed the “wiring” of the brain or whether the brains of drug addicts were wired differently from birth.

科学家发现，毒瘾可能是遗传的。来自英国剑桥大学一个研究小组发现，有毒瘾的人与吸毒的兄弟姐妹有着相同的大脑异常。该研究小组表示，这些异常的大脑结构导致自控能力差和药物依赖。研究人员表示，毒瘾从某种程度上讲是一种大脑疾病。这种说法为帮助自控能力差的瘾君子提供了重要的新方法。这项研究旨在发现，是毒品改变了大脑的线路，还是有毒瘾的人的大脑从出生开始就有所不同。

Lead researcher Dr Karen Ersche told the BBC: “It has long been known that not everyone who takes drugs becomes addicted.” She continued: “It shows that drug addiction is not a choice of lifestyle, it is a disorder of the brain and we need to recognise this. These brothers and sisters who don't have addiction problems, what they can tell us is how they overcome these problems, how they manage self-control in their daily life.” Dr Ersche and her colleagues studied 50 pairs of siblings — one with a history of drug addiction and one with no experience of taking drugs. She compared these with 50 healthy people. She concluded: “We need to find out how these non-addicted siblings were able to resist using drugs.”

首席研究人员Karen Ersche告诉BBC：“长期以来人们都知道，并不是所有吸毒的人都会上瘾。”她继续说：“这表明，毒瘾并不是生活方式的选择，而是一种大脑疾病，我们需要认识到这一点。这些没有毒瘾的兄弟姐妹，他们告诉我们的是他们如何克服这些问题，他们在日常生活中如何自我控制。”Ersche和她的同事研究了50对兄弟姐妹——其中一人有毒瘾史，另外一人从来没有吸毒经历。她将这些人与50个健康的人做了对比。她得出结论：“我们需要查明这些没有毒瘾的兄弟姐妹是如何抵制吸食毒品的。”