VOA慢速英語：科學家首次在實驗室培育出完全成熟的人類卵子

Scientists Grow First Fully Developed Human Eggs in Laboratory

科學家首次在實驗室培育出完全成熟的人類卵子

For the first time ever, scientists have succeeded in growing human eggs from the earliest stages to full maturity in a laboratory.

科學家們有史以來首次在實驗室將人類卵子從最初階段培育到完全成熟。

Before now, scientists had only succeeded in doing so with the eggs of mice, maturing those eggs to the stage where they produced living babies. They had also grown human eggs from a later stage of development.

在此之前，科學家們只能用老鼠的卵子成功實現(xiàn)這一點。他們讓老鼠的卵子成熟到孕育階段?？茖W家們也曾經(jīng)培育過后期階段的人類卵子。

Scientists at two research hospitals in Edinburgh, Scotland and the Center for Human Reproduction in New York completed this latest experiment. They published the results of their research in the journal Molecular Human Reproduction in early February.

蘇格蘭愛丁堡市兩家研究醫(yī)院和紐約人類生殖中心的科學家們完成了這項最新的實驗。他們將研究成果發(fā)表在2月初的《人類生殖》雜志上。

They said this research could one day help in developing medicines and new treatments for people who are unable to produce children.

他們表示，這項研究有一天能有助于開發(fā)出針對不孕不育患者的藥物和治療方法。

Normally, microscopic eggs develop in the part of the female reproductive system called ovaries. However, this is the first time human eggs have been developed outside the human body from their earliest stage to full maturity.

通常，微小的卵子在雌性生殖系統(tǒng)的卵巢中孕育。然而，這是人類卵子首次在人體外從最初階段發(fā)育到完全成熟階段。

Evelyn Telfer is a co-leader of the research. She told the Reuters news service, "Being able to fully develop human eggs in the [laboratory] could widen the scope of available fertility treatments. We are now working on optimizing the conditions that support egg development in this way and studying how healthy they are."

Evelyn Telfer是這項研究的聯(lián)合負責人。她對路透社記者表示：“能夠在實驗室中培育成熟人類卵子可以擴大現(xiàn)有生殖治療的范圍。我們正在努力優(yōu)化這種支持卵子發(fā)育的條件，并研究它們的健康程度。”

Independent experts not directly involved in this work supported it by calling it important. But they also warned that there is much more to do before laboratory-grown human eggs could be safely made ready for reproduction with sperm.

未直接參與這項工作的獨立專家對這項研究很支持，稱它非常重要。但他們也警告說，在實驗室培育的人類卵子可以安全地同精子繁殖之前還有很多工作要做。

Ali Abbara is a medical expert at Imperial College London. He said this latest research suggests it may be possible to fully combine human eggs and sperm outside the body in the future.

Ali Abbara是倫敦帝國學院的一名醫(yī)學專家。他說，這項最新研究表明，將來也許有可能在體外實現(xiàn)人類卵子和精子的結(jié)合。

"[But] the technology remains at an early stage," he added. "And much more work is needed to make sure that the technique is safe and optimized before we ascertain whether these eggs remain normal during the process, and can...form embryos that could lead to healthy babies."

“但這項技術仍處于早期階段，”他補充說，“我們還需要做更多工作來確保這項技術的安全和完善，在此之后，我們才能弄清這些卵子在發(fā)育過程中是否能保持正常，能夠形成孕育健康生命的胚胎。”

Darren Griffin is a genetics professor at Kent University in the United Kingdom. He called the work a surprising technical success. If success and safety rates were improved, it could help future cancer patients receiving chemotherapy treatment protect their fertility, said Griffin. It could also improve fertility treatments, and deepen scientific understanding of the biology of the earliest stages of human life.

Darren Griffin是英國肯特大學的遺傳學教授。他稱這項工作是一項驚人的技術成功。如果成功率和安全率得到改善，它可以幫助未來接受化療的癌癥患者保護他們的生育能力。它還能改進生殖治療，深化人們對人類生命最早期階段生物學的科學認知。

I'm Pete Musto.

我是皮特·瑪索。