美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Minibrains' Could Help Drug Discovery For Zika And For Alzheimer's

'Minibrains' Could Help Drug Discovery For Zika And For Alzheimer's

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Some tiny brains are making big news this week at the world's largest neuroscience meeting. Minibrains are these lab-created clusters of living human brain cells that mimic² some of the functions of actual, fully³ developed brains. As NPR's Jon Hamilton reports, they are helping⁴ scientists answer questions about everything from early brain development to infection with the Zika virus.

JON HAMILTON, BYLINE⁵: Unlike real brains, minibrains are made in laboratories - labs like this one at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Hongjun Song, the scientist in charge, takes me to a small, windowless room with a powerful air filtration system. He opens an incubator the size of a dorm fridge and points inside.

HONGJUN SONG: So this is the device we've developed.

HAMILTON: The device is only a bit larger than a cell phone, but Song says it's a complete minibrain factory. The lower half looks like a miniature muffin pan with a dozen separate compartments⁶.

SONG: Yeah, we can grow up to five to 10 minibrain in each one.

HAMILTON: These minibrains aren't just random⁷ clumps⁸ of human brain cells. They contain many of the structures and connections found in real brains. And figuring out how to grow them has taken a lot of work. About three years ago, scientists in Europe showed how to coax⁹ brain cells into specializing and organizing much the way a developing brain does. The Hopkins team has streamlined and improved the process. Guo-Li Ming, a professor at Hopkins, says each minibrain is just big enough to see with the naked eye.

GUO-LI MING: It's basically, like, a ball of cells clustering together. But if you open it up, you really see something very similar to the early embryonic¹⁰ brain.

HAMILTON: It's not just that they look like embryonic brains. They also grow the way a brain does in the womb. And that led to a big discovery with a minibrain just a few months ago. It involved the Zika virus, which was suspected of derailing brain development in early pregnancy¹¹. Ming says she and Hongjun Song, who are married, thought their minibrains might offer a way to figure out what was happening. And by chance, the couple knew a researcher at Florida State University who was studying the Zika virus.

MING: So Hongjun called him right away, saying, well, we have the perfect system to work. Do you have the Zika? And he said yes.

HAMILTON: That call led to experiments in minibrains that showed how the infection was attacking certain critical brain cells. The Hopkins team described this research Sunday during a press conference at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego. Elsewhere at the meeting, scientists are presenting minibrain research on a range of other diseases and disorders¹², including brain cancer and Down syndrome¹³. Thomas Hartung from Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health says minibrains may offer a better way for drug companies to test new products.

THOMAS HARTUNG: One company after the other failed on things like stroke, multiple sclerosis, but also new degenerative diseases, like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

HAMILTON: Those drugs worked on animals but failed with people. Hartung says that's because animal brains aren't like human brains.

HARTUNG: We need human systems to tell us about humans, and that's why this is such a big step forward.

HAMILTON: One potential obstacle for minibrain research is public acceptance. Hartung says when people hear about scientists growing brains in a lab, they sometimes imagine a fully functioning organ. And in some ways, he says, the clusters are like real brains.

HARTUNG: These cells are communicating. These neurons are talking to each other. You could say it's a primitive¹⁴ type of thinking.

HAMILTON: But Hartung says these brains contain thousands of cells, not billions like a real brain. And even if they could get bigger, they wouldn't be conscious.

HARTUNG: This has nothing to do with consciousness. This has nothing to do with any type of information which is digested here by these cells because they have no input¹⁵.

HAMILTON: So they don't have anything to think about. Jon Hamilton, NPR News.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 mimic   

v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人

参考例句：

• A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
• He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。

3 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 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。

6 compartments   

n.间隔( compartment的名词复数 )；（列车车厢的）隔间；（家具或设备等的）分隔间；隔层

参考例句：

• Your pencil box has several compartments. 你的铅笔盒有好几个格。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The first-class compartments are in front. 头等车室在前头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

8 clumps   

n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声

参考例句：

• These plants quickly form dense clumps. 这些植物很快形成了浓密的树丛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bulbs were over. All that remained of them were clumps of brown leaves. 这些鳞茎死了，剩下的只是一丛丛的黃叶子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 coax   

v.哄诱，劝诱，用诱哄得到，诱取

参考例句：

• I had to coax the information out of him.我得用好话套出他掌握的情况。
• He tried to coax the secret from me.他试图哄骗我说出秘方。

10 embryonic   

adj.胚胎的

参考例句：

• It is still in an embryonic stage.它还处于萌芽阶段。
• The plan,as yet,only exists in embryonic form.这个计划迄今为止还只是在酝酿之中。

11 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

12 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

14 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

15 input   

n.输入(物)；投入；vt.把(数据等)输入计算机

参考例句：

• I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
• All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。