It is being said that this is a very inexpensive and efficient way to detect cancer as compared to other invasive and expensive methods. Ants do not have noses but have a very strong olfactory sense which enables them to differentiate between such smells. They are easy to train, learn fast, are very efficient and are not expensive to keep, said Professor Patricia d’Ettorre who is a part of the research.
Source : Google imagesThe species of ants known as Formica fusca are being used in the current study. 70 such ants had been exposed to urine of mice with and without tumor. It was noted that the ants spend considerable amount of time around the sample with tumor. Tumors that have cancer produce distinct chemicals which are called volatile organic compounds which can be found in bodily fluids such as swear and urine. The ants were trained to associate detecting the smell of cancer in urine with a reward, and the results show that they learned the association very quickly.
As the next part of the study, the researchers are going to train the ants to identify such differences in the samples of human urine. Studies show that dogs are also able to differentiate between a healthy person and a person with cancer by sniffing the urine but it takes them almost 6 months to do so. In this case the ants needed only three rounds and in 10 minutes they were trained.The success of this study could prove very beneficial for the humankind as cancer is a big menace to the society.
What do think could be the implications of this? Let us know in the comments.
