[新聞] 人造子宮成功地使羔羊生長 人類將是下一

作者: prime2477 (12345678901234567890123)   2017-04-29 01:17:16
1.媒體來源: The Verge
2.完整新聞標題:
An artificial womb successfully grew baby sheep — and humans could be next
人造子宮成功地使羔羊生長 — 人類可能是下一個
The lambs spent four weeks in the external wombs and seemed to develop
normally
羔羊在外部子宮待了四週且似乎發育正常
3.完整新聞內文:
by Rachel Becker Apr 25, 2017, 5:09pm EDT
https://www.facebook.com/verge/videos/1423052887731050/
Inside what look like oversized ziplock bags strewn with tubes of blood and
fluid, eight fetal lambs continued to develop — much like they would have
inside their mothers. Over four weeks, their lungs and brains grew, they
sprouted wool, opened their eyes, wriggled around, and learned to swallow,
according to a new study that takes the first step toward an artificial womb.
One day, this device could help to bring premature human babies to term
outside the uterus — but right now, it has only been tested on sheep.
看似超大的夾鏈袋,周圍散佈著各種充滿血與液體的管子,八隻羊胎兒在裡面持續成長
— 就像牠們還在母親的體內一樣。經過四週,牠們長大了肺與腦,長出羊毛,睜開了眼
睛,扭動身體,並且學會吞嚥。這個新研究踏出了人造子宮的第一步。終有一天,這個裝
置將會幫助人類早產兒在子宮外存活 — 而現在,它只在綿羊上試驗過。
It's appealing to imagine a world where artificial wombs grow babies,
eliminating the health risk of pregnancy. But it's important not to get ahead
of the data, says Alan Flake, fetal surgeon at the Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia and lead author of today's study. “It's complete science
fiction to think that you can take an embryo and get it through the early
developmental process and put it on our machine without the mother being the
critical element there,” he says.
這很吸引人去想像一個使用人造子宮培育胎兒的新世界,完全除去懷孕造成的健康風險。
“重要的並不是超越現有的研究”,該研究的第一作者,費城兒童醫院的胎兒外科醫師,
Alan Flake 表示。“別認為可以拿一個經過早期發育的胎兒放入我們的機器,使母親不
再是這個過程的關鍵要素,這根本只是科幻小說的情節”。
Instead, the point of developing an external womb — which his team calls the
Biobag — is to give infants born months too early a more natural,
uterus-like environment to continue developing in, Flake says.
Flake 表示,正在開發的外部子宮,研究團隊稱之為 Biobag,目標並不是取代母親,而
是讓早產兒在更自然,更像子宮的環境繼續發育。
Image: The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia


圖中文字
Extracorporeal System for Physiologic Fetal Support — Three components
1. Pumpless, low resistance, low surface area, heparin coated, oxygenator
circuit
2. Closed Biobag system, Continuous fluid exchange
3. Umbilical Artery (2)/Umbilical vein vascular interface
The Biobag may not look much like a womb, but it contains the same key parts:
a clear plastic bag that encloses the fetal lamb and protects it from the
outside world, like the uterus would; an electrolyte solution that bathes the
lamb similarly to the amniotic fluid in the uterus; and a way for the fetus
to circulate its blood and exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen. Flake and his
colleagues published their results today in the journal Nature Communications.
Biobag 看起來可能不像子宮,但它包含一樣的關鍵部位: 與子宮相似,用來裝入羊胎兒
並保護牠的乾淨塑膠袋; 與羊水相似,用來浸泡羔羊的電解液; 以及使胎兒的血液循環與
把二氧化碳交換成氧。Flake 和他的同事們已經在今天發表他們的成果在 Nature
Communications 期刊上。
Flake hopes the Biobag will improve the care options for extremely premature
infants, who have “well documented, dismal outcomes,” he says. Prematurity
is the leading cause of death for newborns. In the US, about 10 percent of
babies are born prematurely — which means they were born before they reach
37 weeks of pregnancy. About 6 percent, or 30,000 of those births, are
considered extremely premature, which means that they were born at or before
the 28th week of pregnancy.
Flake 表示,“大量文獻記載著極早期早產兒的悲傷結果”,他希望 Biobag 能改善他們
的照護方案。早產是新生兒的主要死因。在美國,約有10%的嬰兒過早出生 — 這意謂著
他們在懷孕未滿37週就出生了。大約6%(三萬名)的早產兒,是被認為是極早期早產兒,
這代表著他們在孕期28週或之前就出生了。
These infants require intensive support as they continue to develop outside
their mothers' bodies. The babies who survive delivery require mechanical
ventilation, medications, and IVs that provide nutrition and fluids. If they
make it out of the intensive care unit, many of these infants (between 20 to
50 percent of them) still suffer from a host of health conditions that arise
from the stunted development of their organ systems.
這些嬰兒要在母體外發育需要密集的照護。活過分娩的嬰兒需要呼吸器,投藥,與用點滴
提供水和養分。如果他們從加護病房中解脫出來,許多這些嬰兒(其中20%至50%)仍然受
到其器官系統發育遲緩的一系列健康狀況的影響。
“So parents have to make critical decisions about whether to use aggressive
measures to keep these babies alive, or whether to allow for less painful,
comfort care,” says neonatologist Elizabeth Rogers, co-director for the
Intensive Care Nursery Follow-Up Program of UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital,
who was not involved in the study. “One of the unspoken things in extreme
preterm birth is that there are families who say, ‘If I had known the
outcome for my baby could be this bad, I wouldn’t have chosen to put her
through everything.’”
一位沒有參予這項研究的新生兒學家,UCSF Benioff 兒童醫院加護病房後續計畫聯合主
任,Elizabeth Rogers 表示,“因此,父母必須作出艱難的決定,是否採取積極措施以
保住嬰兒的性命,或是允許用較少痛苦的安慰護理”。“極端早產的一個不言而喻的事情
是,有一些家庭說:‘如果我知道寶寶的結果可能會這麼糟糕,我不會選擇讓她承受這一
切’。”
That's why for decades scientists have been trying to develop an artificial
womb that would re-create a more natural environment for a premature baby to
continue to develop in. One of the main challenges was re-creating the
intricate circulatory system that connects mom to fetus: the mom’s blood
flows to the baby and back, exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide. The blood
needs to flow with just enough pressure, but an external pump can damage the
baby’s heart.
這就是為什麼幾十年來,科學家們不斷地嘗試發展人造子宮,為早產兒再造出更自然的環
境使其在裡面發育。主要挑戰之一是,重造出連接母親與胎兒的複雜循環系統。血液流動
需要剛剛好足夠的壓力,但外部的泵會損害嬰兒的心臟。
To solve this problem, Flake and his colleagues created a pumpless
circulatory system. They connected the fetus’s umbilical blood vessels to a
new kind of oxygenator, and the blood moved smoothly through the system.
Smoothly enough, in fact, that the baby’s heartbeat was sufficient to power
blood flow without another pump.
為了解決這個問題,Flake 與他的同事創造出一種無泵循環系統。他們把胎兒的臍帶血管
連結到一種新型的氧合器,使血液在系統中順暢流動。事實上,無須用泵,嬰兒的心跳就
足以驅動血液流動。
The next problem to solve was the risk for infections, which premature
infants in open incubators face in the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU.
That’s where the bag and the artificial amniotic fluid comes in. The fluid
flows in and out of the bag just like it would in a uterus, removing waste,
shielding the infant from infectious germs in the hospital, and keeping the
fetus’s developing lungs filled with fluid.
接下來要解決的問題是傳染風險,也就是早產兒在新生兒加護病房(NICU)開放保溫箱中所
面臨的風險。這就是引入袋子和人造羊水的原由。液體就像在子宮裡一樣,藉由流入和流
出袋子來移除代謝廢物。液體也使嬰兒免受醫院空氣中的感染性細菌侵擾,並保持胎兒發
育中的肺部充滿液體。
Flake and his colleagues tested the setup for up to four weeks on eight fetal
lambs that were 105 to 120 days into pregnancy — about equivalent to human
infants at 22 to 24 weeks of gestation. After the four weeks were up, they
were switched onto a regular ventilator like a premature baby in a NICU.
Flake 與他的同事測試了八個羊胎兒長達四週的時間,這些羊胎兒105到120天大,相當於
22至24週大的人類嬰兒。四個星期之後,他們換成一般的呼吸機,就像在NICU的早產兒一
樣。
The lambs' health on the ventilator appeared nearly as good as a lamb the
same age that had just been delivered by cesarean section. Then, the lambs
were removed from the ventilator and all but one, which was developed enough
to breathe on its own, were euthanized so the researchers could examine their
organs. Their lungs and brains — the organ systems that are most vulnerable
to damage in premature infants — looked uninjured and as developed as they
should be in a lamb that grew in a mother.
呼吸機上的羔羊健康狀況幾乎與同樣年齡通過剖腹產的羔羊一樣好。之後,將羔羊從呼吸
機中取出,除了已發育到可自主呼吸的羔羊之外,其它的羔羊都被安樂死,讓研究人員可
以檢查牠們的器官。牠們的肺和大腦 — 早產兒最容易受到損傷的器官系統 — 看起來沒
有受損,發育得與在母體內生長的羔羊一樣。
Of course, lambs aren't humans — and their brains develop at a somewhat
different pace. The authors acknowledge that it's going to take more research
into the science and safety of this device before it can be used on human
babies. They've already started testing it on human-sized lambs that were put
in the Biobags earlier in pregnancy. And they are monitoring the few lambs
that survived after being taken off the ventilator to look for long-term
problems. So far, the lambs seem pretty healthy. “I think it's realistic to
think about three years for first-in-human trials,” Flake says.
當然,羔羊並不是人類 — 他們的大腦發育有些不同的步調。作者承認,在該設備用於人
類嬰兒之前,會對它的科學和安全性進行更多的研究。他們已經開始試驗人類大小的羔羊
,在懷孕天數更少時放入 Biobag。他們正持續觀察少數取下呼吸機後倖存的羔羊,是否
有對其造成長期影響。到目前為止,羔羊似乎都很健康。Flake 表示,"“我認為在三年
後進行首次的人體試驗是可行的”。
“It's so interesting, and it's really innovative,” Rogers says. “To be
able to continue to develop in an artificial environment can reduce the many
problems caused by simply being born too early.” Rogers adds that not every
facility has the resources or expertise to offer cutting-edge care to
expecting mothers — a problem that the Biobag won’t be able to solve. “We
know there are already disparities after preterm birth. If you have access to
high-level regionalized care your outcomes are often better than if you don't,
” she says.
“這非常有趣,也很創新”,Rogers 表示。"在人造環境持續發育可以減少許多因過早生
產造成的問題"。Rogers 補充,並不是每個設施都有資源與專門知識來提供最先進的孕婦
護理 — 這個問題是 Biobag 無法解決的。她表示,“我們知道早產之後已經存在差異。
如果你有機會獲得高級的區域性護理,那麼你的結果通常會比沒有更好”。
And Rogers worries about how hype surrounding the Biobag could impact parents
coping with preterm infants. “I think many people have been affected by
preterm birth and they think this is going to be some magic bullet. And I
think that prematurity is just really complicated.” Preventing it in the
first place should be a top priority, she says, but the Biobag could help
drive that research forward.
而 Rogers 擔心圍繞著 Biobag 的炒作報導可能會影響父母如何應對早產兒。"我認為很
多人受到早產的影響,而他們認為這將是某種可以解決一切問題的魔法子彈。但我認為早
產是很複雜的"。她表示,預防早產應該是首要任務,但是Biobag可以幫助推動研究進展

For Flake, the research continues. “I'm still blown away, whenever I'm down
looking at our lambs,” he says. “I think it's just an amazing thing to sit
there and watch the fetus on this support acting like it normally acts in the
womb... It's a really awe-inspiring endeavor to be able to continue normal
gestation outside of the mom.”
對於 Flake,研究仍在繼續。他說:“到現在我看到這些羔羊都會感到很驚訝”。“我認
為坐在那裡看著胎兒是一件令人吃驚的事情,就像是牠還在正常的子宮裡 ... 能夠繼續
在母體外正常地孕育非常地鼓舞人心。”
4.完整新聞連結 (或短網址):
https://goo.gl/63pgJ5
5.備註:
人造子宮這個標題很引人遐想,不過他的目標並不是我們想像中的有完整功能的子宮,而
是幫助改善極早期早產兒的發育環境。
作者: Rrrxddd (RRXD)   2016-04-29 01:17:00
五樓被人造
作者: arrenwu (鍵盤的戰鬼)   2016-04-29 01:17:00
赤裸羔羊
作者: tyrande (泰蘭德)   2017-04-29 01:18:00
意思說 以後吃羊肉爐 可以更便宜一點嗎
作者: Pietro (☞金肅πετροσ)   2017-04-29 01:19:00
進化版的保溫箱
作者: infor (pty)   2017-04-29 01:20:00
這個強 ,這才叫生計
作者: yuechen (大谷結衣)   2017-04-29 01:21:00
台灣生育率要上升了
作者: Lavaro (null)   2017-04-29 01:23:00
推!
作者: probsk (紅墨水)   2017-04-29 01:23:00
以後會有卵子銀行嗎
作者: grandwar   2017-04-29 01:25:00
這類似早產兒用的葉克膜而已吧
作者: Tattoo (跟隨我^^)   2017-04-29 01:26:00
生這麼多到底要幹嘛
作者: q0000hcc (仙草俠)   2017-04-29 01:28:00
之後會像科幻作品那種可以泡到大型容器裡吧
作者: deepdish (Keep The Faith)   2017-04-29 01:32:00
母體?
作者: pinhanpaul (沒風度到極點的病)   2017-04-29 01:40:00
鋼彈SEED都是真的
作者: DarkerDuck (達克鴨)   2017-04-29 01:49:00
Matrix sponsor
作者: VOLK11 (VOLK)   2017-04-29 01:51:00
覺得這樣違反自然,一定會有後遺症
作者: DarkerDuck (達克鴨)   2017-04-29 01:53:00
人類進步就是靠違反自然律,不然這麼弱咖的生物早滅種

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