美国国家公共电台 NPR--A drug based on LSD appears to treat depression in mice without the psychedelic trip

A drug based on LSD appears to treat depression in mice without the psychedelic trip

Transcript¹

MEDICAL TREATMENTS

A drug based on LSD appears to treat depression in mice without the psychedelic trip

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Drugs such as magic mushrooms and LSD can act as powerful antidepressants. But they have other impacts, too - mind-bending side effects, for one. NPR's Jon Hamilton reports on a drug based on LSD that appears to treat depression in mice without taking the animals on a trip.

JON HAMILTON, BYLINE²: Antidepressants like Prozac act on the brain's serotonin system, so do psychedelic drugs. But with psychedelics, the effect can occur in hours instead of weeks and last for months. Brian Shoichet from the University of California, San Francisco, says the best evidence so far involves people with depression who take psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms.

BRIAN SHOICHET: There's really interesting reports about people getting great results out of this after just a few doses.

HAMILTON: One study found the results can last a year or more, perhaps because the drug causes the brain to rewire. Psychedelic drugs, though, require medical supervision³ and a therapist to guide a patient through their hallucinatory experience. Shoichet says that's an impractical⁴ way to treat millions of people with depression.

SHOICHET: The society would like a molecule⁵ that you can, you know, get prescribed and just take - you know, go home and take, and you don't need a guided tour for your trip.

HAMILTON: So Shoichet and a large team of researchers are looking for that molecule. They started with a virtual collection of about 75 million hypothetical drugs likely to act on the brain's serotonin system. Shoichet says ultimately, the scientists focused on just two.

SHOICHET: They had the best properties. They were the most potent⁶. And when you gave them to a mouse, they got into the brain at high concentrations.

HAMILTON: A test of one of these drugs found it did seem to relieve depression in mice. A depressed⁷ mouse tends to give up quickly when placed in an uncomfortable situation, like being dangled⁸ from its tail. But the same mouse will keep struggling if it gets an antidepressant drug like Prozac, ketamine or psilocybin. Dr. Bryan Roth, a psychiatrist⁹ at UNC-Chapel Hill and another member of the team, says the molecule based on LSD had a similar effect.

BRYAN ROTH: We found our compound had essentially¹⁰ the same antidepressant activity, at least acutely - so one day later.

HAMILTON: But were those mice tripping? Apparently¹¹ not. Psychedelic drugs cause mice to twitch¹² frequently in a distinctive¹³ way. And Roth says that wasn't the case with mice that got the team's LSD-based compound.

ROTH: We were, I would say, surprised to see that they had no psychedelic drug-like actions at all.

HAMILTON: Studies in people are still a ways off. Even so, Roth says the approach points to a class of depression drugs that would have a huge advantage over products like Prozac and Zoloft, which are taken every day.

ROTH: The difference with psychedelics and the compounds that we're excited about is that it's basically one and done. Patients basically take one dose, and then they're fine.

HAMILTON: That's an optimistic view, says David Olson of the University of California, Davis. Olson, who helped create a non-psychedelic version of the drug Ibogaine, says he's skeptical¹⁴ that a single dose of these new compounds can eliminate depression.

DAVID OLSON: But I do think they take us a step closer to a cure, rather than simply treating disease symptoms.

HAMILTON: Olson says drugs based on psychedelics have the potential to help people who haven't responded to existing antidepressants. And because they work immediately, he says, they could be integrated into a psychotherapy session.

OLSON: You might imagine a day where a patient could take one of these drugs at home and then interact with their therapist via virtual platform like Zoom¹⁵.

HAMILTON: The new research appears in the journal Nature.

Jon Hamilton, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MARCO BENEVENTO'S "NUMBERS")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

4 impractical   

adj.不现实的，不实用的，不切实际的

参考例句：

• He was hopelessly impractical when it came to planning new projects.一到规划新项目，他就完全没有了实际操作的能力。
• An entirely rigid system is impractical.一套完全死板的体制是不实际的。

5 molecule   

n.分子，克分子

参考例句：

• A molecule of water is made up of two atoms of hygrogen and one atom of oxygen.一个水分子是由P妈̬f婘̬ 妈̬成的。
• This gives us the structural formula of the molecule.这种方式给出了分子的结构式。

6 potent   

adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的

参考例句：

• The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
• We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。

7 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

8 dangled   

悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口

参考例句：

• Gold charms dangled from her bracelet. 她的手镯上挂着许多金饰物。
• It's the biggest financial incentive ever dangled before British footballers. 这是历来对英国足球运动员的最大经济诱惑。

9 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

10 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

11 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

12 twitch   

v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛

参考例句：

• The smell made my dog's nose twitch.那股气味使我的狗的鼻子抽动着。
• I felt a twitch at my sleeve.我觉得有人扯了一下我的袖子。

13 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

14 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

15 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。