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Stem cells may offer cure for deafness
干细胞移植技术有望治愈失聪
LONDON (Reuters) - Stem cells may help deaf people hear again, according to early stage research by British scientists.
伦敦（路透社）---按照早期英国科学家的理论，干细胞能让失聪的人再次听到声音。
A team at the University of Sheffield said on Thursday they had discovered how to turn stem cells into ones that behave like sensory hair cells or auditory neurons, which could then be surgically inserted into the ear to restore lost hearing.
英国谢菲尔德大学的一群研究者们在周四宣称他们发现了如何用干细胞培植出知觉毛细胞与听觉神经元。可以采用外科手术将这类培育出来的细胞放入人耳以使人耳恢复曾经损失的听力。
Lead researcher Marcelo Rivolta said the approach, which is being tested on animals, held significant potential but was a long way from being offered to patients.
学术带头人Marcelo Rivolta说这个方法正在动物身上进行实验，是很有潜力的方法但距应用到病人身上还有很长的路要走。
"It will take several years before we are in a position to start doing human trials," he said in a telephone interview.
他在一次电话采访中说到，‘我们还要花费几年的时间才能进行这项技术的人体临床实验。’
The cells in the ear that detect sound are created only in the womb, which means there is no way to repair them once they have been damaged, resulting in permanent hearing loss.
人耳内检测声音的细胞只是在子宫内才成长出来，这意味着一旦这些细胞被毁坏了，将没有办法修复它们，也将导致永久性失聪。
Using stem cells -- master cells that produce all the body's tissues and organs -- to generate these cell types in the laboratory could change that dramatically.
利用干细胞（产生人体几乎全部的组织与器官的细胞）在实验室内培养出检测声音细胞这一类的细胞将戏剧性地改变上述段落所述定论。
Rivolta's research parallels more advanced work on the eye by another group of British-based scientists, who plan to use stem cells to treat age-related macular degeneration, a common cause of blindness, in clinical tests starting in 2010 or 2011.
在Rivolta开展研究的同时，另一支英国科学家小组在眼睛上做了更多的工作，后者打算用干细胞治疗年龄相关的黄斑点退化，即一类普通性的眼盲症，大概于2010年或2011年进行临床实验。
Doctors hope one day to use stem cells to treat a wide range of diseases such as Parkinson's, diabetes and cancer. But localized approaches in the eye or ear may be a promising first step, since fewer cells are involved.
医生们希望未来的一天能够利用干细胞来治疗像是帕金森病、糖尿病以及癌症等一系列疾病。目前局限于眼睛与耳朵上的方法只是前途光明的第一步，因为这两部位细胞量较少的缘故。
Rivolta and colleagues used foetal stem cells in their work, although they are also investigating the potential of both embryonic and adult stem cells.
Rivolta和他的同事们在研究中采用的是胎儿干细胞，虽然他们也看好胚胎细胞与成人干细胞的潜力。
Laboratory studies showed that the new cells derived from foetal tissue behaved and functioned just like their normal ones in developing ears.
实验室内的研究表明这些源自胎儿组织生长出来的新细胞能够在发育中的耳朵里像其它正常细胞一样发挥功能与工作。
"This research is incredibly promising and opens up exciting possibilities by bringing us closer to restoring hearing in the future," said Ralph Holme, director of biomedical research at the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, which helped fund the work.
“这项研究令人难以置信地有希望，并展示了对我们未来恢复听力令人兴奋的可能性，”Ralph Holme说。他是英国皇家国立聋人协会的生物医学研究带头人，此项研究的资助者。
Details of their research were published in the journal Stem Cells and are due to be presented at a stem cells conference in Oxford next week.
关于此项研究的更多细节将在《Stem Cells》期刊上发表，并将于下周在牛津大学举行的干细胞研讨会上被展现给公众。
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偶前段日子译的，现放到聋人在线给大家看。
也许再过20年大家都可能恢复听力呢！ |
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发表于 2009-4-28 23:09
发表于 2009-4-29 20:33
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