VOA慢速英语2016 药物可治疗小白鼠的记忆问题分享到:

Drug Treats Memory Problems in Mice 药物可治疗小白鼠的记忆问题分享到:

A surprising discovery has been made in the treatment of Alzheimer’s, the brain disease that causes memory loss and other problems.

阿尔茨海默症是一种脑部疾病，会导致记忆丢失以及其他问题，最近对于该病的治疗有了惊人的发现。

A drug used to treat women’s menstrual pain made memory problems disappear in laboratory animals with Alzheimer’s disease.

用于治疗女性痛经的一种药物能够消除实验室中患有阿尔茨海默症的试验动物记忆丧失的问题。

The researchers gave the medicine -- mefenamic acid -- to mice with Alzheimer’s disease. The scientists say treatment reversed the animals’ memory-loss problems.

实验人员喂患有该病的实验鼠食用了甲灭酸。科学家们表示，这种治疗消除了实验鼠记忆丧失的问题。

Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease. It worsens over time. It affects many parts of people’s lives, including the ability to remember, think and make decisions.

阿尔茨海默症是种慢性疾病。时间越长，情况越糟。这种病会对人们生活的很多方面造成影响，其中包括对人的记忆力、思考能力以及决策能力造成影响。

The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications. David Brough of Britain’s University of Manchester led the research.

这项研究发表在期刊《自然通讯》上。 英国曼彻斯特大学的David Brough领导进行了该项研究。

The scientists did experiments with mice that were engineered to develop Alzheimer’s symptoms.

科学家们用会患有阿尔茨海默症的老鼠进行了试验。

Like humans who get the disease, the laboratory mice developed memory problems over time.

与患有该病的人一样，随着时间推移，实验室中的小白鼠也会出现记忆问题。

Ten of the Alzheimer’s mice were treated with mefenamic acid for one month. The drug was contained in very small pump devices placed under their skin. Ten other mice, also with memory problems, had devices placed under their skin too, but theirs did not contain medicine.

10只患有阿尔茨海默症的老鼠每月都接受甲灭酸药物治疗。科学家将这种药物置于小白鼠皮下的一个微小的泵装置中。另有十只小白鼠也有记忆问题，其皮下也有泵装置，但该装置中没有药物。

Then the animals were placed in a maze¹ -- a complex group of connected paths. They had to learn how to move around the maze without problems.

随后将这些动物置于迷宫中——一种复杂的连通道路组合。它们必须学会如何自由地在迷宫中走动。

Mike Daniels was a researcher on the study. In a Skype interview he said the mice who received the drug learned the maze easily. That was not true for the mice who did not get the medicine.

Mike Daniels是致力于该研究的一名研究人员。通过Skype接受采访时，他表示接受药物治疗的小白鼠非常容易就了解了迷宫。未接受药物治疗的小白鼠则不是如此。

“We tried to train the mice once they had Alzheimer’s Disease, and the Alzheimer’s mice are un-trainable. They cannot learn that maze.”

“小白鼠患上阿尔茨海默症之后，我们就学着训练这些小白鼠。但患有阿尔茨海默症的小白鼠是无法训练的。它们无法了解迷宫。”

The researchers were excited by the results with the drug-treated mice.

接受药物治疗的小白鼠表现出的结果让研究人员倍感兴奋。

“What was just amazing is, is that this drug seemed to, seemed to render the mice completely normal. It is something we have not really seen before, but there needs to be a lot more work done to really confirm whether this is, whether this is real.”

“让人惊奇的是这种药物似乎让小白鼠完全正常了。我们之前并未见过这种情况，但确认情况属实之前，我们还需要进行更多工作。”

Daniels says brain imaging shows a lot of harmful inflammation in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. Inflammation is a condition in which parts of your body swells², warms and often hurts.

Daniels表示阿尔茨海默症患者的脑部图像显示患者的脑部出现了很多有害的炎症。炎症是指身体的某部位出现肿胀、发热的现象，通常会伴有疼痛。

Researchers believe mefenamic acid reduces that brain inflammation. But other drugs -- like ibuprofen -- which are also used to stop inflammation, did not help.

研究人员认为甲灭酸能够缓解脑部炎症。但像布洛芬这类用于消炎的药物对此却没有效果。

Jack³ Rivers-Auty is the study’s co-author. He says it is difficult to say whether mefenamic acid would work at all stages, or levels, of Alzheimer’s. The stages change from mild thinking and memory problems to the inability to communicate in any way.

Jack Rivers-Auty是该研究的联合作者。他表示很难说甲灭酸是否对阿尔茨海默症各个阶段都有效果。轻微的思考或者记忆问题与完全不能交流完全属于不同的阶段。

He says if researchers move forward with human testing “we would definitely want to put it into people at the early stages of the disease.” That way, researchers could try to slow the progress, or even stop the progress, of the disease.

他表示，如果研究人员想要进行人体试验，我们肯定想从刚患该病的阶段开始着手。研究人员希望能够让这个患病过程慢下来甚至完全终止患病过程。

The researchers say the drug is already approved by the U.S. government and is known to be safe. So, after more testing, mefenamic acid may be available quickly to treat Alzheimer’s patients.

研究人员表示美国政府已经对该药物进行了认可，该药物是安全的。因此，进行更多试验之后，甲灭酸可能很快会用来治疗阿尔茨海默症患者。

In another recent study, researchers testing a drug on humans found it slowed the progress of Alzheimer’s Disease. People were given aducanumab, a drug that fights substances that build up in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients.

最近的另外一项研究中，研究人员对一种药物进行人体试验，发现该药物能够减缓阿尔茨海默证的发展。患者服用了aducanumab，该药物能够防止一些物质在阿尔茨海默症患者的脑部堆积。

The substances are called amyloids. They are sticky proteins that group together in the brain. Together, they form what are called amyloid plaques⁴, and are thought to be a cause of Alzheimer’s.

这些物质被称作是淀粉肽。它们是一些积聚在脑部的粘性蛋白质。它们能够形成淀粉样斑块，人们认为这些是患有阿尔茨海默症的原因。

The researchers reported that in the brains of those given the treatment, there was an “almost complete clearance” of the amyloid plaques, according to the AFP news agency.

据法新社报道，研究人员表示，接受该药物治疗的脑部，淀粉肽基本完全消失了。

But researchers said that while the results are exciting, it is too early to know if this is an effective treatment for the disease. More tests are planned.

但研究人员表示，虽然结果让人兴奋，但现在还不知道这种药物是否能够有效地治疗该病。目前正在计划进行更多的测试。

The study results were published in the journal Nature.

研究结果发表在《自然》杂志上。

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of a group of brain diseases causing memory loss that are collectively called "dementia."

阿尔茨海默症是一种最常见、会造成记忆力丧失的脑部疾病，统称为老年痴呆症。

The World Health Organization says more than 47 million people worldwide are affected⁵ by dementia. Nearly eight million new cases are diagnosed each year.

世界卫生组织表示全球有超过4700万人患有痴呆症。每年还会有近800万人被确诊为痴呆症。

Words in This Story

menstrual – adj. of or relating to menstruation or relating to the flow of blood that comes from a woman's body each month

reverse – adj. opposite of what is usual

amazing – adj. causing great surprise or wonder

render – v. to cause someone to be in a specific condition

inflammation – n. a condition in which a part of your body becomes red, swollen⁶, and painful

stage – n. a particular point or period in the growth or development of something

amyloid plaques – n. sticky substance that builds up outside nerve cells in the brain and damage it

1 maze   

n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑

参考例句：

• He found his way through the complex maze of corridors.他穿过了迷宮一样的走廊。
• She was lost in the maze for several hours.一连几小时，她的头脑处于一片糊涂状态。

2 swells   

增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情）

参考例句：

• The waters were heaving up in great swells. 河水正在急剧上升。
• A barrel swells in the middle. 水桶中部隆起。

3 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

4 plaques   

（纪念性的）匾牌( plaque的名词复数 )； 纪念匾； 牙斑； 空斑

参考例句：

• Primary plaques were detectable in 16 to 20 hours. 在16到20小时内可查出原发溶斑。
• The gondoliers wore green and white livery and silver plaques on their chests. 船夫们穿着白绿两色的制服，胸前别着银质徽章。

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

6 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。