Name: 我們可以用蘆筍治療脊髓損傷嗎？| 安德魯-佩林 (Could we treat spinal cord injuries with asparagus? | Andrew Pelling)
Uploaded: 2020-12-15T18:51:27.000Z
Duration: 7 min 28 s

So I'm here today surrounded by all these fruits and vegetables,

所以我今天在這裡被這些水果和蔬菜包圍著。

轉承詞

because these are the subjects of my experiments.

程度副詞

my team started to rethink how we make materials

我的團隊開始重新思考我們如何製造材料。

for reconstructing damaged or diseased human tissues,

用於重建受損或患病的人體組織。

and we made the totally unexpected discovery

that plants could be used for this purpose.

In fact, we invented a way to take these plants

事實上，我們發明了一種方法，可以把這些植物帶走

and strip them of all their DNA and their cells,

And these fibers could then be used as a scaffold

而這些纖維就可以作為腳手架了

but in our very first proof-of-concept experiment,

但在我們的第一個概念驗證實驗中。

and then we took that ear-shaped scaffold,

然後我們拿著那個耳朵形狀的腳手架。

and coaxed human cells to grow inside of it.

We then took the next step and implanted it,

我們就採取了下一步的措施，植入了它。

that the scaffolds stimulated the formation of blood vessels,

So not too long after these discoveries were taking place,

I was at home cooking asparagus for dinner,

I was noticing that the stalks were full of these microchanneled vascular bundles.

我是注意到莖稈上滿是這些微通道的血管束。

of a whole body of bioengineering effort aimed at treating spinal cord injury.

旨在治療脊髓損傷的整個生物工程努力的一部分。

Up to half a million people per year suffer from this type of injury,

每年有多達50萬人受到這種傷害。

and the symptoms can range from pain and numbness

that lead to a complete loss of motor function and independence.

導致運動功能和獨立性的完全喪失。

might be the use of a scaffold that has microchannels

可能是使用有微通道的腳手架。

So, could we use the asparagus and its vascular bundles

那麼，我們能不能用蘆筍和它的血管束？

Our cells have not evolved to grow on plant polymers,

我們的細胞沒有進化到在植物聚合物上生長。

and plant tissues have no business being found in your spinal cord.

和植物組織沒有業務 在你的脊髓發現。

ideally these types of scaffolds should disappear over time,

理想情況下，這些類型的腳手架應隨著時間的推移而消失。

但植物性的腳手架卻做不到這一點。

because we lack the enzymes to break them down.

these properties were exactly why we were having so much success.

這些屬性正是我們獲得巨大成功的原因。

that the inertness of plant tissue is exactly why it's so biocompatible.

植物組織的惰性正是它具有生物相容性的原因。

In a way, the body almost doesn't even see it,

從某種程度上來說，身體幾乎連看都看不到。

but regenerating cells benefit from its shape and stability.

但再生細胞受益於它的形狀和穩定性。

but I constantly felt this weight of doubt

但我不斷地感到這種懷疑的重量

when it came to thinking about spinal cords.

So many scientists were using materials from traditional sources,

所以很多科學家都在使用傳統來源的材料。

like synthetic polymers and animal products --

with no real right to work on such a hard problem.

沒有真正的權利來研究這樣一個困難的問題。

I surrounded myself with neurosurgeons and clinicians,

我周圍都是神經外科醫生和臨床醫生。

The basic idea is that we would take an animal,

基本的想法是，我們會拿一個動物。

We would then implant an asparagus scaffold

然後，我們將植入一個蘆筍支架

between the severed ends of the spinal cord

We're not adding stem cells or electrical stimulation

我們沒有添加幹細胞或電刺激。

if the microchannels in the scaffold alone

如果腳手架中的微通道單獨存在的話

are enough to guide the regeneration of neurons.

In this video, you can see an animal about eight weeks after being paralyzed.

在這段視頻中，你可以看到一隻動物在癱瘓後8周左右。

You can see she can't move her back legs,

你可以看到她的後腿不能移動。

Now I know how difficult this video is to watch.

現在我知道這個視頻有多難看了。

My team struggled every day with these types of experiments,

我的團隊每天都在為這種類型的實驗而努力。

and we constantly asked ourselves why we were doing this ...

我們不斷地問自己為什麼要這樣做... ...

until we started to observe something extraordinary.

直到我們開始觀察到一些不尋常的東西。

This is an animal that received an implant.

and she's even starting to lift herself up.

you can see those legs moving in a coordinated fashion.

你可以看到這些腿的移動 在協調的方式。

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我們可以用蘆筍治療脊髓損傷嗎？| 安德魯-佩林 (Could we treat spinal cord injuries with asparagus? | Andrew Pelling)

constantly

crucial

struggle

extraordinary