美国国家公共电台 NPR What Makes A Human Brain Unique? A Newly Discovered Neuron May Be A Clue

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Scientists have taken one more small step toward understanding what makes the human brain unique. As NPR's Jon Hamilton reports, they've identified a type of brain cell that exists in people but not in rodents¹.

JON HAMILTON, BYLINE²: The cells are called rosehip neurons, and they were first described by a scientist in Hungary named Gabor Tamas. Ed Lein of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle says Tamas was recording³ electrical signals from cells taken from two human brains.

ED LEIN: In the course of doing these recordings⁴, he started to notice a very distinctive⁵ type of cell that to him had the shape of a rose after the petals⁶ have fallen off. So he called them the rosehip cell.

HAMILTON: Meanwhile, Lein and other scientists at the Allen Institute had also run across these unusual neurons while doing a genetic⁷ analysis of the brain cells. So the researchers combined what they had learned. And Lein says their conclusion was remarkable⁸.

LEIN: This particular type of cell had properties that had never actually been described in another species to date.

HAMILTON: The findings suggest that the human brain is more than just a big mouse brain. At some point, it acquired at least one kind of cell a mouse doesn't have. Scientists aren't sure exactly what these cells do, though they seem to be involved in controlling the flow of information in the brain. And Lein says their existence has big implications for researchers.

LEIN: It throws some doubt on the ability to use the mouse, then, to study certain elements of human function and disease.

HAMILTON: Rosehip cells are a type of inhibitory neuron. They act like the brakes in a car telling other brain cells when to slow down. And Lein says it's possible they play a role in mental illness.

LEIN: These types of cells are extremely important. And dysfunction of them can actually directly be linked to different types of neuropsychiatric disease like schizophrenia.

HAMILTON: If rosehip cells are involved in brain disorders⁹, it could help explain why so many brain drugs that work in mice don't work in people. Josh Gordon directs the National Institute of Mental Health, which helped fund the research.

JOSHUA GORDON: It may be that in order to fully¹⁰ understand psychiatric disorders, we need to get access to these special types of neurons that exist only in humans.

HAMILTON: Gordon says this study is part of a larger effort by the National Institutes of Health to identify every type of cell found in the brains of mice, monkeys and people.

GORDON: We don't know how the brain works if we don't know all of its parts. Right? So in order to describe how the brain produces behavior, we want to know what are the different parts in the brain and then how they work together.

HAMILTON: New genetic techniques are rapidly improving scientists' ability to detect new types of brain cells. And Gordon expects that researchers will find more cells that exist in people but not animals.

GORDON: I think it's very, very likely that this is the tip of the iceberg¹¹.

HAMILTON: The new research appears in the journal Nature Neuroscience. Jon Hamilton, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOKHOV'S "LOVE ABOVE")

1 rodents   

n.啮齿目动物( rodent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Rodents carry diseases and are generally regarded as pests. 啮齿目动物传播疾病，常被当作害虫对待。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some wild rodents in Africa also harbor the virus. 在非洲，有些野生啮齿动物也是储毒者。 来自辞典例句

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 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

4 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

5 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。

6 petals   

n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
• The petals of many flowers expand in the sunshine. 许多花瓣在阳光下开放。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

8 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

9 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》

10 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。

11 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。