Inebriated honeybees could give better insight into alcohol's effects on human behaviour, according to a study by US researchers.

The scientists fed honeybees various levels of alcohol and monitored the effects.

Behavioural differences between the bees depended on the amount of ethanol ingested, the researchers at the Ohio State University said in a paper presented on October 23 in San Diego at the annual Society for Neuroscience conference.

They found that increasing alcohol consumption resulted in bees spending less time flying, walking and grooming, and more time upside down.

The bees that had consumed the highest concentrations of ethanol -- 50, 75 and 100 per cent -- spent most time on their backs. This effect happened within the first 10 minutes of the observation period. "They couldn't coordinate their legs well enough to flip themselves back over again."

"The honeybees' nervous system is similar to that of vertebrates," the authors said. "On the molecular level, the brains of honeybees and humans work the same way. Knowing how chronic alcohol use affects genes and proteins in the honeybee brain may help us eventually understand how alcoholism affects memory and behaviour in humans as well as the molecular basis of addiction," they said.