肉桂是一種溫和的，帶有甜味的香料，粘稠的肉桂卷可以直接灑在咖啡上食用。新的研究發現，肉桂不僅可以挑逗人們的味蕾，還可以提高學習能力。
The study, published in the journal Neuroimmune Pharmacology, finds that mice that are considered poor learners improve in learning ability after consuming cinnamon.
該研究發表在《神經免疫藥理學》雜誌上，研究發現，食用肉桂後，被認為學習能力差的小鼠學習能力得到了提高。
"This would be one of the safest and the easiest approaches to convert poor learners to good learners," says Kalipada Pahan, Ph.D., lead researcher of the study and the Floyd A. Davis Prof. of Neurology at Rush.
這項研究的首席研究員， 拉什大學弗洛伊德 A·戴維斯神經病學教授，卡利帕達博士說：「這將是一個最安全、最簡單的提高學習能力差者學習能力的方法。
Little is known about why some people are naturally good at learning and why some people who struggle with learning can either learn or fail to learn new skills with effort.
一些人天生擅長學習，而另外一些人即使很努力但仍然不能學習或學不會新的技能。對於這種現象的原因現在仍然所知甚少。
Pahan comments that by finding out why some brain mechanisms (機制) result in poor learning, strategies can be developed to increase learning ability and improve memory.
帕汗評論說，通過找出導致學習能力差的大腦機制，我們可以得出提高學習能力和記憶力的方法。
Researchers have located proteins in the hippocampus (海馬體) - the part of the brain that is involved in memory formation, memory organization, and memory storing - that are present in poor learners.
研究人員已經找出了存在於學習能力差者海馬體的蛋白質，海馬區是大腦中參與記憶形成，組織和存儲的部分。
In poor learners, less of the CREB protein - that plays a role in memory and learning - was present in the hippocampus.
學習能力差者海馬體環磷脂苷效應結合蛋白數量較少，這種蛋白質有助於記憶和學習。
CREB：環磷腺苷效應元件結合蛋白，全稱cAMP-response element binding protein，是一種調節基因轉錄的蛋白質。
More of the alpha5 subunit of GABAA receptor or GABRA5 proteins - that generates tonic inhibitory conductance (傳導) in the brain - was observed in poor learners than those mice that learned more effectively.
與學習效率較高的小鼠相比，學習能力差的小鼠體內觀察到更多的γ-氨基丁酸A型受體α5亞基，也叫做γ-氨基丁酸A型蛋白，這種蛋白質可以刺激大腦中抑制的傳遞。
GABAA受體：又稱作γ-氨基丁酸A型受體，是一種離子型受體，而且是一類配體門控型離子通道。此通道的內源性配體是一種被稱為GABA的神經遞質。
Cinnamon successfully reversed poor memory and learning
肉桂成功提高了記憶力和學習能力
Feeding the mice cinnamon improved their learning and memory by altering (改變) the proteins associated with poor learning.
通過改變與學習能力差相關的蛋白質，餵食肉桂的小鼠學習能力和記憶力得到了提高。
On consuming cinnamon, the mice metabolized (代謝) the spice into sodium benzoate (苯甲酸鈉), which can be used as a treatment for brain damage.
攝入的肉桂在小鼠體內被分解成苯甲酸鈉，這一點可以被用來治療腦損傷。
The sodium benzoate had the effect on the mice of increasing the CREB in the brain and decreasing GABRA5 while increasing the ability of the hippocampal neurons (神經元) to change. Consequently, these changes improved memory and learning.
苯甲酸鈉可以增加小鼠腦內環磷脂苷效應結合蛋白的數量，降低γ-氨基丁酸A型蛋白的數量，並提高海馬神經元改變的能力。由於這些變化，小鼠的記憶力和學習能力得到了提高。
The researchers trained the mice for 2 days in a maze (迷宮) consisting of 20 holes to observe if they could learn to find their target hole.
研究人員將小鼠放置在由20個洞組成的迷宮中訓練兩天，來觀察它們是否能學會尋找目標洞。
"We have successfully used cinnamon to reverse biochemical, cellular and anatomical changes that occur in the brains of mice with poor learning," says Pahan.
帕汗說，我們已經成功的用肉桂扭轉了學習能力差小鼠腦內的生化，細胞和解剖學變化。
After 1 month of feeding the mice cinnamon, those mice deemed as poor learners improved in memory and learning, and the good learners were unchanged.
給小鼠餵食肉桂一個月後，被認為學習能力差的小鼠記憶力和學習能力均有提高，而被認為學習能力強的小鼠沒有發生變化。
"Individual difference in learning and educational performance is a global issue. We need to further test this approach in poor learners. If these results are replicated in poor learning students, it would be a remarkable advance."
Kalipada Pahan, Ph.D., Floyd A. Davis Prof. of Neurology at Rush University Medical Center
Pahan and co-workers have previously found a relationship between consuming cinnamon and the reversal of changes in the brains of mice with Parkinson's disease (帕金森症).
帕汗和同事曾發現食用肉桂與帕金森症小鼠腦內的逆轉性變化有一定關係。
Parkinson's disease：帕金森症，又名震顫麻痺，是最常見的神經退化性疾病之一。常見症狀有：運動過緩，肌強直，靜止性震顫，姿勢步態異常，認知異常，睡眠障礙，自主神經功能障礙，感覺障礙等。
The team has also detected through analysis that not all types of cinnamon are equal. Of the two major types of cinnamon available in the United States - Chinese and Ceylon - Ceylon cinnamon is purer, and Chinese cinnamon contains a molecule (分子) associated with liver damage.
該小組通過分析還發現，並不是所有種類的肉桂都有相同的作用。美國的有效肉桂中，兩個主要類型是中國肉桂和錫蘭肉桂，錫蘭的肉桂比較純正，而中國的肉桂含有一種與肝損失有關的分子。
編輯：Penny 審校：審校小組