年輕人的血或能幫助治療阿爾茲海默症

It sounds more like science fiction than real world science, but researchers at Stanford University announced the first results of a novel study in which they infused blood from young donors into a small number of people with mild to moderate forms of Alzheimer's Disease in the hopes of improving the disease's symptoms.

這聽起來比現實生活中的科學更像科幻小說，但斯坦福大學的研究人員宣佈了一項新研究的首批成果，在這個研究中，研究人員將年輕獻血者的血注入到一小羣輕微至中度阿爾茲海默症患者的體內，希望能夠改善這一疾病的症狀。

The study, presented at the Clinical Trial on Alzheimer's Disease conference in Boston on Saturday, isn't as far-fetched as it seems. Stanford scientists have pioneered a process called parabiosis, in which young and old mice are connected with the same blood system. In the first studies, they were surprised to see that the young mice started showing signs of older metabolism, and chronic diseases. The next studies, in which the older mice not only were connected to the young mice by blood, but also given infusions of the young blood, were even more eye-opening. The older mice started to show improvement in their memory, namely their ability to perform mazes and find a specific target after a period of time.

該研究於週六在波士頓舉行的阿爾茲海默症臨牀試驗會議上提出，並不像看上去的那般牽強。斯坦福大學的科學家們開創了一個叫做異種共生的過程，在這個過程中，年輕老鼠和老年老鼠被同樣的血液系統連接在一起。在最初的研究中，研究人員很吃驚的看到年輕老鼠開始呈現更老的新陳代謝和慢性疾病的跡象。在接下來的研究中，老年老鼠不僅血液和年輕老鼠相連，而且還被注射了年輕老鼠的血液，這一研究更是讓人大開眼界。老年老鼠的記憶開始提升，也就是說它們能夠走完迷宮，還能在一段時間後找到一個特定的目標。

That inspired another group of researchers at Stanford to see whether the same brain changes might be seen in people, and specifically in people with the early stages of Alzheimer's, which affects memory.

這激發了斯坦福大學的另一組研究人員去觀察是否能在人類身上看到同樣的大腦變化，尤其是出現阿爾茲海默症早期跡象的人羣（阿爾茲海默症會影響記憶）。

They recruited nine volunteers, and asked them to come in to the labs every week for four weeks for a unit of plasma from a young person, which they obtained from the Stanford blood bank, or a placebo solution. Then the people were left alone for six weeks, and then switched to the young plasma or placebo for four weeks, whichever they hadn't received in the first period. Another group of nine volunteers recruited later only received the young plasma for four weeks.

他們招募了9位志願者，並要求這些志願者連續四周每週都來實驗室獲取年輕人的血漿（這是他們從斯坦福大學血庫中獲得的）或是安慰劑溶液。然後，這些人獨自呆了6周，之後再連續四周注射年輕人血漿或安慰劑（他們在第一個階段沒有被注射）。隨後又招募了9名志願者，他們只是連續四周注射了年輕人的血漿。

"We were expecting to find that [the plasma] was safe," says Dr. Sharon Sha, clinical associate professor of neurology and neurological sciences at Stanford and lead investigator of the trial. "I wasn't expecting to find any change in cognitive measures."

"我們希望看到血漿對於他們來說是安全的，"斯坦福大學神經病學和神經科學臨牀副教授及本實驗的首席研究員莎倫·莎博士說道。"我根本就沒想到會有任何認知方面的改變。"

But that's exactly what they found. Among the 18 people, it was clear that the plasma seemed to be doing something. Those receiving the plasma showed statistically significant improvements in some measures of their independence, such as their ability to shop on their own, control their finances and balance their checkbooks.

但這正是他們所發現的。在這18個志願者中，很明顯血漿起到了作用。那些注射血漿的人在獨立性方面有着明顯改善，比如他們獨自購物、掌控金融和確保支票收支平衡的能力。