2023年经济学人 老年痴呆新疗法(1)

 

    One of the first signs of Alzheimer’s disease is confusion.

    阿尔茨海默病的最初症状之一是神志不清。

    Most people can park their car in a different space every morning and find it again in the evening.

    大多数人可以每天早上把车停在不同的地方，晚上再找到它。

    Those with Alzheimer’s find this type of problem much harder.

    那些患有老年痴呆症的人会发现这类问题要困难得多。

    Memories of things they do often, like eating or taking medication, become tangled² in their minds.

    他们记忆中经常做的事情，比如吃饭或服药，在脑海中变得纠结复杂。

    The ability to distinguish between similar memories depends on a tiny strip of brain tissue called the dentate gyrus.

    区分相似记忆的能力依赖于一小块被称为齿状回的脑组织。

    Studies in mice have shown that the dentate gyrus is one of the few bits of the brain to generate new neurons even in adulthood³.

    对老鼠的研究表明，即使在成年后，齿状回也是大脑中少数几个会产生新神经元的部位之一。

    Those new neurons are thought to help keep similar memories distinct.

    这些新的神经元被认为有助于保持相似记忆的区别。

    Whether something similar happens in humans is less clear.

    尚不清楚人类是否也会发生类似的情况。

    But a clutch of new results described this week at the Society for Neuroscience’s conference in Washington, dc, suggest that it might.

    但本周在华盛顿举行的神经科学学会会议上公布的一系列新结果表明，答案可能是肯定的。

    And if it does, then encouraging the process might offer a new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.

    如果确实如此，那么促进这个过程可能会为阿尔茨海默病提供一种新的治疗方法。

    Until the 1960s scientists thought adult brains did not produce new neurons.

    直到20世纪60年代，科学家们都认为成年人的大脑不会产生新的神经元。

    Then evidence began to emerge of young neurons in the brains of adult rats and mice,—specifically in the olfactory⁴ bulb, which processes smell, and the dentate gyrus.

    随后，成年大鼠和小鼠的大脑中出现了年轻神经元的证据，特别是在处理气味的嗅球和齿状回中。

    These new neurons had developed from neural⁵ progenitor⁶ cells, a type of undifferentiated neuron akin¹ to a stem cell, in a process scientists call neurogenesis.

    这些新神经元是从神经祖细胞(一种类似于干细胞的未分化神经元)发育而来的，科学家们将这一过程称为神经发生。

    And there seems to be a link, at least in mice, between these new neurons and Alzheimer’s disease.

    至少在老鼠身上，这些新神经元和阿尔茨海默病之间似乎存在联系。

    Mice genetically⁸ engineered to have Alzheimer’s-like symptoms also have fewer young neurons in their brains.

    经过基因改造后出现类似阿尔茨海默病症状的老鼠，大脑中年轻的神经元也更少了。

    Two studies published in 2021 and 2022 showed that encouraging neurogenesis could improve memory in such animals.

    2021年和2022年发表的两项研究表明，促进神经发生可以改善这些动物的记忆力。

    And a paper published in April this year found that boosting neurogenesis also caused other cells known as microglia to begin cleaning up tangles⁹ of protein, called amyloid-beta plaques¹⁰, that are characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.

    今年4月发表的一篇论文发现，促进神经发生也会导致其他小胶质细胞，开始清理淀粉样蛋白斑块的蛋白质缠结，这是阿尔茨海默病的特征。

    So far so promising—if you are a mouse.

    到目前为止，一切都很有希望——如果你是一只老鼠的话。

    But studying neurogenesis in humans is tricky¹¹.

    但是研究人类的神经发生是很棘手的。

    MRI scanners cannot watch the growth of individual neurons.

    核磁共振扫描仪不能观察单个神经元的生长。

    Scientists must take samples of brain tissue from cadavers¹² and either stain them with chemicals that bind¹³ only to young neurons, or measure the genes⁷ that have been expressed within brain cells to look for the hallmarks of youth.

    科学家们必须从尸体上采集脑组织样本，要么用只与年轻神经元结合的化学物质染色，要么测量脑细胞中表达的基因，以寻找年轻神经元的特征。

1 akin   

adj.同族的，类似的

参考例句：

• She painted flowers and birds pictures akin to those of earlier feminine painters.她画一些同早期女画家类似的花鸟画。
• Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.听他的人生故事犹如阅读一本精彩的冒险小说。

2 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

3 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

4 olfactory   

adj.嗅觉的

参考例句：

• He is to develop a sensor to substitute for the olfactory abilities of dogs.克罗克将研制一种传感器用以代替狗的嗅觉功能。
• Based on these findings, Keller suspects that each person has an olfactory blind spot.根据这些发现，凯勒推断，每个人都有一个嗅觉盲区。

5 neural   

adj.神经的，神经系统的

参考例句：

• The neural network can preferably solve the non- linear problem.利用神经网络建模可以较好地解决非线性问题。
• The information transmission in neural system depends on neurotransmitters.信息传递的神经途径有赖于神经递质。

6 progenitor   

n.祖先，先驱

参考例句：

• He was also a progenitor of seven presidents of Nicaragua.他也是尼加拉瓜7任总统的祖先。
• Schoenberg was a progenitor of modern music.勋伯格是一位现代音乐的先驱。

7 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

8 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

9 tangles   

（使）缠结， （使）乱作一团( tangle的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Long hair tangles easily. 长头发容易打结。
• Tangles like this still interrupted their intercourse. 像这类纠缠不清的误会仍然妨碍着他们的交情。

10 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。

11 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

12 cadavers   

n.尸体( cadaver的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Human cadavers were the only known source of hGH, and demand was intense. 人类尸体是hGH已知的惟一来源，而且需求广泛。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 口蹄疫疯牛病
• Will there be enough cadavers for each group this term? 这个学期每一个组都有足够的尸体吗？ 来自电影对白

13 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。