2013年经济学人 一个不那么难的移植

 

Science and technology

科学和技术

Medical technology

医疗技术

A not-so-hard graft¹

一个不那么难的移植

Transplantable blood vessels³ can now be grown as desired

可移植的血管现可随意培育

The old-fashioned way

古老的方式

ANOTHER advance in the emerging technology of regenerative medicine has just been announced.

新兴再生医学技术的又一项进展刚刚被公布。

It should soon be possible to make blood vessels that can be stored and used off the shelf for surgery that requires arteries⁴ or veins⁶ to be bypassed.

该项技术应该不久就可能制造血管，这种血管可以储存，需要进行绕过动静脉的外科手术时可以现货供应。

The vessels, prototypes of which are described this week in a paper in Science Translational Medicine, are made by Humacyte, a small firm based in Durham, North Carolina, that was founded by Shannon Dahl, the paper's principal author, and two colleagues.

本周《科学转化医学》上的一篇论文描述了这种血管的原型，它是由北卡罗来纳州达勒姆的一家小公司Humacyte制造的，而公司的创立者为该论文的主要作者夏伦?达尔和其两位同事。

The recipe Dr Dahl and her colleagues concocted⁸ begins with smooth-muscle cells.

达尔博士及其同事的制做方法是由平滑肌细胞开始。

Smooth muscle is different from the familiar sort that cloaks bones and enables bodily movement.

平滑肌不同于我们熟悉的那种包覆骨骼并使身体运动的肌肉。

It is a component⁹ of organs such as the gut¹⁰ and the blood vessels that sometimes need to change shape while they are functioning.

它是肠道和血管等器官的组成部分，这些器官有时需要改变形状才能行使功能。

To make artificial blood vessels the team took smooth-muscle cells from fresh corpses¹¹ and cultured them on tubular scaffolds made of a material called polyglycolic acid.

为了制造人造血管，这个小组从新鲜尸体上采集平滑肌细胞，将其放在聚羟基乙酸材料制成的管式支架上培养。

Grown this way, smooth muscle secretes¹² collagen, a structural¹³ protein that is, among several other things in the body, an important component of the walls of blood vessels.

采取这种方式生长，平滑肌可分泌胶原，一种结构蛋白，是人体中除其它几种物质外组成血管壁的重要成分。

The polyglycolic acid degrades spontaneously over the course of a few weeks with the consequence that it is, in effect, replaced by the collagen.

聚羟基乙酸在几个星期内自发降解，实际结果就是被胶原蛋白取代了。

The result is a tube of the length and diameter of the original scaffold, that is composed of collagen and smooth-muscle cells—a structure similar to a natural blood vessel².

所得物保持原来支架的长度和直径，由胶原蛋白和平滑肌细胞组成，其结构类似天然血管。

Transplanting that into a patient, however, would risk provoking an immune reaction, since the muscle cells are foreign tissue.

不过将其移植到患者身上会有引发免疫反应的风险，因为人造血管上的肌肉细胞是外来组织。

To get around this, Dr Dahl and her colleagues wash the muscle cells away with a detergent¹⁴, leaving just the collagen.

为了避免这个问题，达尔博士和其同事用洗涤剂洗去这些肌肉细胞，只留下胶原蛋白。

Though the end product is a nonliving simulacrum of a blood vessel rather than an artificial version of the real, biologically active thing, experiments on animals suggest that it works well enough to substitute for a diseased natural vessel.

虽然最终产品是无生命的模拟血管，而不是真正的、具有生物活性的人造血管，但是动物实验表明，它足以代替患病的天然血管。

It can also act as a tap from which the blood of people whose kidneys have failed might be drawn¹⁵ for dialysis.

它也可以充当肾病患者龙头，引出患者的血液进行透析。

At the moment, the optons for either of these things are limited.

目前，适合这些用途的任一用途的血管选择都很有限。

The best approach is to use a length of vessel taken from elsewhere in the patient's body.

最好的方法就是采用来自病患身体其它部位的一段血管。

But that requires such transplants to be healthy themselves—and each length of transplanted vessel can be used only once.

但这要求这样的移植对患者无害，而且每根移植的血管只能使用一次。

Synthetic¹⁶ vessels made of Teflon exist, but they are prone¹⁷ to infection and blockage¹⁸ by blood clots¹⁹, and tend to work for only a few months.

现已存在聚四氟乙烯制成的人造血管，但它们很容易感染和形成血栓，且往往只能起几个月的作用。

The animal experiments suggest the new, all-collagen vessels are capable of lasting²⁰ at least a year without noticeable deterioration²¹.

动物实验表明，新型全胶原蛋白的血管有能力至少维持一年而没有明显恶化。

They are also, once implanted, able to remodel²² themselves in ways that improve their function—changing shape in response to blood flow, being colonised by cells from the patient's body, and showing signs of incorporating elastin, another structural protein found in natural vessels.

一旦植入，它们也能按照提高其功能的方式自我改造—针对血流改变形状，让病患的身体细胞在其上生长，并显示出混合了天然血管中发现的另一个结构蛋白弹性蛋白的迹象。

Also, if kept in a suitable saline buffer²³ at 4°C, they can be transplanted a year after they were made without a perceptible degradation²⁴ of their properties.

此外，如果保存在4 ° C合适的盐水缓冲液中，它们可以在制成一年后被移植，而没有可察觉的性能退化。

So, if human trials confirm these results, the surgical-repairer's toolkit will have acquired a useful additional instrument—and the age of the cyborg will be just that little bit nearer.

所以，如果人体试验证实了这些结果，外科修复师的工具包就会增添一个有用的额外工具，且生控体系统时代的来临就又接近了一点点。

词语解释

1.vessel n.容器；器皿

The simplest calorimeter is a metal vessel used with a thermometer.

最简单的量热计是一个带温度计的金属容器。

2.surgery n.外科手术；外科

He is preparing for the surgery.

他正在做手术前的准备。

3.vein⁵ n.静脉；纹理；叶脉

The doctor injects glucose²⁵ into the patient's vein.

医生把葡萄糖注射入病人的静脉。

4.describe v.描述；说成

The police asked me to describe exactly how it happened.

警察让我描述一下这事是怎样发生的。

5.concoct⁷ v.捏造；调制

And they had taken me so long to concoct.

我花了好长时间编造这些谎言。

1 graft   

n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接

参考例句：

• I am having a skin graft on my arm soon.我马上就要接受手臂的皮肤移植手术。
• The minister became rich through graft.这位部长透过贪污受贿致富。

2 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

3 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 arteries   

n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道

参考例句：

• Even grafting new blood vessels in place of the diseased coronary arteries has been tried. 甚至移植新血管代替不健康的冠状动脉的方法都已经试过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This is the place where the three main arteries of West London traffic met. 这就是伦敦西部三条主要交通干线的交汇处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 vein   

n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络

参考例句：

• The girl is not in the vein for singing today.那女孩今天没有心情唱歌。
• The doctor injects glucose into the patient's vein.医生把葡萄糖注射入病人的静脉。

6 veins   

n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理

参考例句：

• The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的，感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 concoct   

v.调合，制造

参考例句：

• I gave her a tip on how to concoct a new kind of soup.我教她配制一种新汤的诀窍。
• I began to concoct explanations of my own.我开始思考自己的解释。

8 concocted   

v.将（尤指通常不相配合的）成分混合成某物( concoct的过去式和过去分词 )；调制；编造；捏造

参考例句：

• The soup was concocted from up to a dozen different kinds of fish. 这种汤是用多达十几种不同的鱼熬制而成的。
• Between them they concocted a letter. 他们共同策划写了一封信。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

10 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

11 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

12 secretes   

v.（尤指动物或植物器官）分泌( secrete的第三人称单数 )；隐匿，隐藏

参考例句：

• The pineal gland secretes melanin during times of relaxation and visualization. 松果体在放松时分泌黑色素是明白无误的。 来自互联网
• For example, the archegonium (female organ) of the moss Funaria secretes sucrose. 例如藓类颈卵器（雌性器官）分泌蔗糖。 来自互联网

13 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

14 detergent   

n.洗涤剂；adj.有洗净力的

参考例句：

• He recommended a new detergent to me.他向我推荐一种新的洗涤剂。
• This detergent can remove stubborn stains.这种去污剂能去除难洗的污渍。

15 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

16 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

17 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

18 blockage   

n.障碍物；封锁

参考例句：

• The logical treatment is to remove this blockage.合理的治疗方法就是清除堵塞物。
• If the blockage worked,they could retreat with dignity.如果封锁发生作用，他们可以体面地撤退。

19 clots   

n.凝块( clot的名词复数 )；血块；蠢人；傻瓜v.凝固( clot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• When you cut yourself, blood clots and forms a scab. 你割破了，血会凝固、结痂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Milk clots when it turns sour. 奶变酸就凝块。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

20 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

21 deterioration   

n.退化；恶化；变坏

参考例句：

• Mental and physical deterioration both occur naturally with age. 随着年龄的增长，心智和体力自然衰退。
• The car's bodywork was already showing signs of deterioration. 这辆车的车身已经显示出了劣化迹象。

22 remodel   

v.改造，改型，改变

参考例句：

• Workmen were hired to remodel and enlarge the farm buildings.雇用了工人来改造和扩建农场建筑。
• I'll remodel the downstairs bedroom first.我先要装修楼下那间房间。

23 buffer   

n.起缓冲作用的人(或物)，缓冲器；vt.缓冲

参考例句：

• A little money can be a useful buffer in time of need.在急需时，很少一点钱就能解燃眉之急。
• Romantic love will buffer you against life's hardships.浪漫的爱会减轻生活的艰辛。

24 degradation   

n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变

参考例句：

• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。
• Gambling is always coupled with degradation.赌博总是与堕落相联系。

25 glucose   

n.葡萄糖

参考例句：

• I gave him an extra dose of glucose to pep him up.我给他多注射了一剂葡萄糖以增强他的活力。
• The doctor injected glucose into his patient's veins.医生将葡萄糖注入病人的静脉。