2022年经济学人 川大教授开发血小板膜涂层避免了支架排异(1)

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Science & technology

科技版块

Stent technology

支架技术

Painting with platelets

在血小板上画画

How to hide surgical¹ implants² from the immune system

如何隐藏外科植入物不被免疫系统发现

Platelets play an essential role in healing.

血小板在愈合过程中起着至关重要的作用。

These curious beasts, are cell fragments rather than complete cells -- though they are still surrounded by cell membranes⁴.

这些不寻常的“野兽”是细胞碎片，而不是完整的细胞--尽管它们仍然被细胞膜包裹着。

Their main job, in collaboration⁵ with a protein called fibrin, is to stem the flow of blood from wounds by causing clots⁶.

他们的主要工作是与一种名为纤维蛋白的蛋白质合作，通过产生凝块来阻止伤口的血液流动。

They also encourage the regeneration of damaged tissue.

它们还能促进受损组织的再生。

This sort of activity at wound sites might normally draw the attention of the immune system, but that does not happen because platelets carry special proteins in their membranes which render them invisible to immune surveillance.

通常情况下，伤口部位的这种活动可能会引起免疫系统的注意，但这种情况并不会发生，因为血小板膜中携带特殊的蛋白质，使它们不受免疫监控。

Now, Wang Yunbing at Sichuan University in China writes in Matter that he has developed a way to apply these membranes to medical equipment of the sort destined⁷ for installation inside the human body.

现在，中国四川大学的王云兵在《物质》(Matter)杂志中写道，他已经开发出一种方法，可以将这些膜应用于那种要安装在人体内的医疗设备上。

That may stop the immune system attacking such grafts⁸ as foreign objects.

这可能会阻止免疫系统将这些移植物当作异物来攻击。

The idea of coating equipment with platelet membranes has been around for a while.

在设备上涂上血小板膜的想法已经存在一段时间了。

Since the relevant proteins were characterised 20 years ago, they have been used on numerous occasions to disguise nanoparticles employed for drug delivery.

自20年前相关蛋白质被确定以来，它们已被多次用于掩饰进行药物输送的纳米颗粒。

That involves manipulating the surface electric charges of the nanoparticles to make them sufficiently⁹ and uniformly negative in a way which encourages the membrane³ to fuse with them.

这涉及到操纵纳米粒子的表面电荷，使其充分且均匀的负电荷，从而促使薄膜与它们融合。

For such small objects, this is reasonably simple.

对于如此小的物体，这是相当简单的。

But not for large ones.

但大的就不一样了。

Manipulating charge uniformly across a wide area is tricky¹⁰, and no one has yet done it well enough to achieve successful fusion¹¹.

在大范围内均匀地操纵电荷是很棘手的，而且还没有人做得足够好来实现成功的结合。

Dr Wang therefore wondered if it might be possible to entice¹² membranes to fuse to a large surface by manipulating that surface in other ways.

因此王博士想知道是否有可能通过其他方式操纵表面电荷来诱使膜融合到一个大表面上。

Besides being attracted to negative charges, platelet membranes also spread easily and defect-free over “superhydrophilic” (exceptionally water-loving) surfaces.

除了被负电荷吸引外，血小板膜也很容易在“超亲水”(特别是亲水)表面扩散，而且没有缺陷。

With this in mind, he tested a superhydrophilic material based on a substance called polydopamine, which he knew from previous work binds¹³ to a range of materials including plastics, metals and ceramics¹⁴.

考虑到这一点，他测试了基于一种物质（贻贝）的聚多巴胺超亲水材料，他从之前的工作中知道，这种物质可以与塑料、金属和陶瓷等一系列材料结合。

So he gathered a team of colleagues together to fuse it to a metal stent.

因此，他召集了一组同事，将其与金属支架融合在一起。

1 surgical   

adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的

参考例句：

• He performs the surgical operations at the Red Cross Hospital.他在红十字会医院做外科手术。
• All surgical instruments must be sterilised before use.所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。

2 implants   

n.（植入身体中的）移植物( implant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Hormone implants are used as growth boosters. 激素植入物被用作生长辅助剂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Perhaps the most far-reaching project is an initiative called Living Implants From Engineering (LIFE). 也许最具深远意义的项目，是刚刚启动的建造活体移植工程 (LIFE)。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命

3 membrane   

n.薄膜，膜皮，羊皮纸

参考例句：

• A vibrating membrane in the ear helps to convey sounds to the brain.耳膜的振动帮助声音传送到大脑。
• A plastic membrane serves as selective diffusion barrier.一层塑料薄膜起着选择性渗透屏障的作用。

4 membranes   

n.（动物或植物体内的）薄膜( membrane的名词复数 )；隔膜；（可起防水、防风等作用的）膜状物

参考例句：

• The waste material is placed in cells with permeable membranes. 废液置于有渗透膜的槽中。 来自辞典例句
• The sarcoplasmic reticulum is a system of intracellular membranes. 肌浆网属于细胞内膜系统。 来自辞典例句

5 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

6 clots   

n.凝块( clot的名词复数 )；血块；蠢人；傻瓜v.凝固( clot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• When you cut yourself, blood clots and forms a scab. 你割破了，血会凝固、结痂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Milk clots when it turns sour. 奶变酸就凝块。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 destined   

adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的

参考例句：

• It was destined that they would marry.他们结婚是缘分。
• The shipment is destined for America.这批货物将运往美国。

8 grafts   

移植( graft的名词复数 )； 行贿； 接穗； 行贿得到的利益

参考例句：

• He's gone to London for skin grafts on his thighs. 他去伦敦做大腿植皮手术了。
• Her burns were treated with skin grafts. 她的烧伤是用植皮方法进行治疗的。

9 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

10 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

11 fusion   

n.溶化；熔解；熔化状态，熔和；熔接

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc. 黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• This alloy is formed by the fusion of two types of metal.这种合金是用两种金属熔合而成的。

12 entice   

v.诱骗，引诱，怂恿

参考例句：

• Nothing will entice the children from television.没有任何东西能把孩子们从电视机前诱开。
• I don't see why the English should want to entice us away from our native land.我不明白，为什英国人要引诱我们离开自己的国土。

13 binds   

v.约束( bind的第三人称单数 )；装订；捆绑；（用长布条）缠绕

参考例句：

• Frost binds the soil. 霜使土壤凝结。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Stones and cement binds strongly. 石头和水泥凝固得很牢。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 ceramics   

n.制陶业；陶器

参考例句：

• an exhibition of ceramics by Picasso 毕加索陶瓷作品展
• The ceramics bore the imprint of Luca della Robbia. 陶器上印有卢卡·德拉·罗比亚的字样。