一项将药物直接导入患者大脑中的、具有颠覆性的帕金森病疗法已在人身上进行了测试。在试验中，一组患者接受了这类治疗，即药物通过头部一侧的开口注入大脑；另一组则接受了 “安慰剂疗法”。

 

Parkinson's causes parts of the brain to become progressively damaged, resulting in a range of symptoms such as involuntary shaking and stiff, inflexible¹ muscles. Now British scientists have, for the first time, given a protein called GDNF directly into the brain in the hope that it could regenerate² dying cells and even reverse the condition.

帕金森病导致部分大脑逐渐受损，引发一系列症状，比如无意识的颤抖和肌肉僵硬、不灵活等。现在，英国科学家首次将一种名为 “胶质细胞源性神经营养因子” 的蛋白质直接注入大脑，希望这样做可以让濒死的细胞再生，甚至逆转病情。

 

41 participants underwent robot-assisted surgery to have four tubes screwed into their brains, which allowed GDNF to be infused to the affected³ areas with pinpoint⁴ accuracy via a port in their head.

41 名参与者接受了机器人辅助手术，手术将四根导管插入大脑，这使得胶质细胞源性神经营养因子通过头部的开口极其精确地注入病变区域。

 

In the study, some patients received the protein and others received a placebo⁵. Both groups showed improved symptoms, so it's not clear if the protein was responsible for the benefits. However, scans did find evidence of improvement to affected areas of the brain in those given GDNF.

在这项研究中，给一些患者注入了蛋白质，而给另一些患者使用了安慰剂。两组患者的症状均有所改善，所以目前还不清楚这是不是蛋白质起到的作用。但脑部扫描结果的确显示，在那些给予蛋白质的患者中，脑内的病变区域得到了改善。

 

Researchers hope that further trials could look at increasing the doses of GDNF for the duration of treatment. While this is far from a cure for those with Parkinson's, it may provide some hope to the millions of sufferers around the world.

研究者们希望进一步的试验可以着眼于在治疗期间增加胶质细胞源性神经营养因子的剂量。尽管这还远远不能治愈帕金森病患者，但它或许能给世界各地数百万帕金森患者带来一丝希望。

点击收听单词发音