Pubdate: Saturday, June 5, 1999 Source: Edmonton Sun (Canada) Copyright: 1999, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonSun/ Forum: http://www.canoe.ca/Chat/home.html Author: Bernard Pilon MICE, COCAINE PROVE CANUCKS ARE MELLOW It took cloned rodents ripped on cocaine to uncover the truth: Canadians really are just, like, more mellow, eh? Like it or not, Europeans generally sum up Canucks as less-excitable cousins to the brash Yanks. Along comes a cross-border study suggesting maybe, just maybe, that arctic-tinged air and Canadian tap water may make us more mellow. It certainly did something strange to a bunch of mice in a University of Alberta lab in April 1998. "It's one of those things that came out that's a bit of a surprise," said Dr. John Crabbe, a behavioural neuroscientist at Oregon Health Services University in Portland. Crabbe - joined by U of A psychologist Dr. Douglas Wahlsten and another colleague in Albany, New York - injected small amounts of cocaine into 128 genetically similar rodents, all 77 days old and living under identical conditions. You'd think they'd react identically. You'd think wrong. According to a study published in yesterday's issue of Science magazine, some of the Edmonton mice got visibly higher on coke than American rodents. At the same time, however, Crabbe said they were less "wired" - and just quietly hung around in a maze, soaking up their surroundings, until the high went down. "We went nuts trying to control differences. "We sent probably 2,000 e-mails and phone calls to try to eliminate every possible environmental difference (before doing the tests)," said Crabbe. "Yet three strains of Edmonton mice responded more to coke. They ran around more. Why? When you get the answer, let me know," said Crabbe. The study is causing ripples in the scientific community because it suggests slight environmental differences - ranging from their handlers' behaviour to chemicals found in tap water - can be as much of a factor in scientific experiments that crave consistency as slight differences in genetics. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea