VOA慢速英語:Researchers Develop Treatment for PTSD

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語健康報(bào)道。

An international team of researchers has developed a drug that could help in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is a mental condition that can develop when someone seize a disturbing event, or serious of events.

一個國際研究人員小組開發(fā)出了一種藥物，它可能有助于治療創(chuàng)傷后應(yīng)激障礙(簡稱PTSD)。PTSD是指在遇到恐慌或嚴(yán)重事件時就會發(fā)作的一種精神狀況。

People who suffer from it experience increased anxiety, depression and may have problems with their memory. Scientists say the drug could be given to someone immediately following a trauma to prevent the development of PTSD.

患病者越來越焦慮、抑郁，并可能存在記憶問題?？茖W(xué)家表示，這種藥可以給剛遭遇創(chuàng)傷的人服用，用來預(yù)防患上創(chuàng)傷后應(yīng)激障礙。

Raul Andero Gali is a researcher at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, who studies the biology of PTSD. He says it is the only mental disorder that has a known trigger or cause, such as a car accident, or being in armed conflict. And this means researchers have a better chance of finding a treatment for it.

勞爾·加利(Raul Andero Gali)是佐治亞州亞特蘭大市埃默里大學(xué)的一名研究人員，他研究創(chuàng)傷后應(yīng)激障礙的生物學(xué)機(jī)制。他表示，這是唯一一種已知起因或原因的心理障礙，例如車禍、或置身武裝沖突中。這意味著研究人員擁有更好的機(jī)會來尋找治療方案。

"So we can even define more clearly which is the stimulus or the stressor that trigger[s] the disease, whereas with other psychiatric diseases it is way more difficult. For example, with depression or schizophrenia it is more uncertain what is triggering that disease."

他說，“因此我們可以明確界定是哪種刺激觸發(fā)了這種疾病，而在其它精神疾病中這相當(dāng)困難。例如，抑郁癥或精神分裂癥是由什么觸發(fā)的就相當(dāng)不明朗。”

Doctor Gali and other researchers at Emory, the University of Miami in Florida, Scripps Research Institute in Florida and the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, Germany worked to find gene associated with the development of PTSD.

加利博士和埃默里大學(xué)、佛羅里達(dá)州的邁阿密大學(xué)和斯克里普斯研究所，以及德國慕尼黑的馬普精神病學(xué)研究所的其他研究人員致力于找到和PTSD發(fā)作相關(guān)聯(lián)的基因。

They found that in some people experiencing a high degree of stress, a gene called OPRL1 releases a protein receptor for a molecule called nociceptin in the brain. Doctor Gali says when that happens, people experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，在一些經(jīng)歷了高度壓力的人中，一種名為OPRL1的基因?qū)Υ竽X中的孤菲肽釋放出一種蛋白質(zhì)受體。加利博士表示，當(dāng)這種情況發(fā)生后，人們就會出現(xiàn)創(chuàng)傷后應(yīng)激障礙的癥狀。

The researchers experiment it on mice to develop a drug that blocks the receptor, reducing symptoms of anxiety and fear. Doctor Gali says investigators tested their drug, called SR8993, in mice train to feel an electric shock whenever they heard a specific sound. The mice became very stressed when they heard the sound. Doctor Gali says immediately after the sound and shocks, some of the mice were given SR8993, others were given a drug with no active ingredient called a placebo.

這些研究人員在小白鼠身上實(shí)驗(yàn)，以開發(fā)一種藥物來阻止這種受體，從而減少焦慮和恐懼的癥狀。加利博士表示，調(diào)查人員在小白鼠身上測試了他們這種名為SR8933的新藥。這些小白鼠經(jīng)過訓(xùn)練，當(dāng)它們聽到特定聲音時就會受到電擊，這樣它們在聽到這些聲音時會變得非常焦慮。加利博士表示，在聽到這些聲音和電擊之后，一些小白鼠立即給予服用SR8993，另一些小白鼠立即給予服用無任何有效成分的安慰劑。

"The day after the animals were tested to see how afraid they were for the tone. And the animals that got the compound SR8993 presented less fear to the tone. So their conservation of fear memories is decreased."

“第二天，這些小白鼠接受測試，看它們會有多怕這種聲音。服用了SR8993化合物的小白鼠對這種聲音的恐懼降低了。因此說，它們恐懼記憶保護(hù)降低了。”

Doctor Gali says much work needs to be done to determine if SR8993 is effective in humans. If it is, he believes it could be given to, for example, soldiers returning home from a war zone to keep them from developing PTSD.

加利博士表示，還有許多工作要做，以測試SR8993是否對人類有效。如果有效，他認(rèn)為可以給剛從戰(zhàn)區(qū)回國的士兵服用，以防止他們患上創(chuàng)傷后應(yīng)激障礙。

An article on this possible treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

一篇關(guān)于這種創(chuàng)傷后應(yīng)激障礙的可能療法的文章發(fā)表在《科學(xué)轉(zhuǎn)化醫(yī)學(xué)》雜志上。