-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Researchers have stumbled across what may turn out to be a “miracle(奇迹)” treatment for hair loss in humans. The scientists were investigating how stress affects the digestive system when they made the discovery.
The team at the University of California-Los Angeles and U.S. Veterans Administration were working with mice which were genetically1 engineered to overproduce(过度生产) a stress hormone2 called corticotrophin-releasing factor or CRF.
As they aged3, these chronically-stressed rodents4 lost the hair down their backs, much the same way that extreme stress can cause baldness in humans.
Investigators5 studying irritable6 bowel7 syndrome8 injected the mice for five consecutive9 days with a chemical compound, or antagonist10, called astressin-B, which blocks the effects of CRF, the stress hormone.
Lead researcher Million Mulugeta says they wanted to see if the treatment eased the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, a disorder11 that causes severe pain and cramping12.
“And we left these mice back to their home cage and came back three months, and all these mice that received this antagonist had their hair grown back fully,” says Mulugeta.
Four months later, the rodents’ fur showsed no signs of thinning. Mulugeta isn't sure if astressin only reverses stress-related hair loss, or whether it would correct hair loss due to aging or chemotherapy(化学疗法).
Corticotrophin-releasing factor orchestrates the stress response and the cascade13 of stress hormones14 that follows. Mulugeta says scientists are now trying to figure out which stress hormones are most closely tied to hair loss so they can develop a treatment that does not disrupt the endocrine system.
While the hair loss treatment has not been tried in humans yet, Mulugeta is optimistic that it will work.
“These hormones and their receptors are present in the skin both in mice and humans, and they are very similar," he says. "So all this gives us hope that the antagonist may work in human(s).”(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)
1 genetically | |
adv.遗传上 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 hormone | |
n.荷尔蒙,激素,内分泌 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 rodents | |
n.啮齿目动物( rodent的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 investigators | |
n.调查者,审查者( investigator的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 irritable | |
adj.急躁的;过敏的;易怒的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 bowel | |
n.肠(尤指人肠);内部,深处 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 syndrome | |
n.综合病症;并存特性 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 consecutive | |
adj.连续的,联贯的,始终一贯的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 antagonist | |
n.敌人,对抗者,对手 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 disorder | |
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 cramping | |
图像压缩 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 cascade | |
n.小瀑布,喷流;层叠;vi.成瀑布落下 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 hormones | |
n. 荷尔蒙,激素 名词hormone的复数形式 | |
参考例句: |
|
|