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科学美国人60秒 SSS 锁定特定脑细胞可消除疼痛

时间:2019-12-10 07:41来源:互联网 提供网友:nan   字体: [ ]
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This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.

Pain. It's unpleasant. But what if pain could be rendered less...painful...emotionally speaking? Such uncoupling might not be entirely1 farfetched. Because researchers have located a set of neurons that seem to encode the feelings of hurt that accompany pain.

"Pain is both a sensory2 and emotional experience."

Grégory Scherrer, a pain expert at Stanford University.

"Much of the research so far has focused on the sensory aspect of pain perception. And in particular how cells in our nerves are able to detect the stimuli3 that we perceive as painful."

But less is known about why most of us find pain so distressing4.

So Scherrer and his colleagues set out to first identify those brain cells that are active when an animal experiences pain. The researchers used a miniature microscope to look at the brains of living mice. That technology was developed by Mark Schnitzer, who does neuroscience and applied5 physics at Stanford.

"This microscope is small and light enough that it can be worn on the head of an adult mouse as the animal behaves in a natural manner."

When these microscope-wearing mice were poked6 with a pin or exposed to mild heat or cold, cells in a subregion of their amygdalas lit up.

"So this indicated that there's a particular type of cell in a given region of the brain that seemed to specifically encode the percept of pain."

But are these cells responsible for sensing pain...or interpreting the sensation? To find out, the researchers shut the cells down. And they poked the animals again.

"So when we did that, what we observed is that while animals were still withdrawing from the stimulus7, indicating that they could detect it, so the sensation aspect of pain was intact, they didn't seem to care about the stimulus."

That is, they didn't make any effort to avoid the place where they experienced the discomfort8...which is how mice usually react to pain. The findings are in the journal Science.

A future part of treating pain could therefore involve targeting these particular neurons. You'd still have the physical part of the pain. But the negative perception of the pain could be diminished. Which means: still pain, but also gain.

Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 entirely entirely     
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
  • His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
2 sensory Azlwe     
adj.知觉的,感觉的,知觉器官的
参考例句:
  • Human powers of sensory discrimination are limited.人类感官分辨能力有限。
  • The sensory system may undergo long-term adaptation in alien environments.感觉系统对陌生的环境可能经过长时期才能适应。
3 stimuli luBwM     
n.刺激(物)
参考例句:
  • It is necessary to curtail or alter normally coexisting stimuli.必需消除或改变正常时并存的刺激。
  • My sweat glands also respond to emotional stimuli.我的汗腺对情绪刺激也能产生反应。
4 distressing cuTz30     
a.使人痛苦的
参考例句:
  • All who saw the distressing scene revolted against it. 所有看到这种悲惨景象的人都对此感到难过。
  • It is distressing to see food being wasted like this. 这样浪费粮食令人痛心。
5 applied Tz2zXA     
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用
参考例句:
  • She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
  • This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。
6 poked 87f534f05a838d18eb50660766da4122     
v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 );戳出;拨弄;与(某人)性交
参考例句:
  • She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
  • His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 stimulus 3huyO     
n.刺激,刺激物,促进因素,引起兴奋的事物
参考例句:
  • Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
  • Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。
8 discomfort cuvxN     
n.不舒服,不安,难过,困难,不方便
参考例句:
  • One has to bear a little discomfort while travelling.旅行中总要忍受一点不便。
  • She turned red with discomfort when the teacher spoke.老师讲话时她不好意思地红着脸。
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TAG标签:   科学美国人60秒  英语听力  sss
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