纪录片《饮食变迁》 第35期:脂肪细胞膨胀（在线收听）

Scientists already knew that if we overate

科学家已经知道 如果我们吃得太多

fat cells blow up like balloons

脂肪细胞就会像气球一样膨胀

to hold more and more fat.

从而容纳更多脂肪

But to their surprise, the research team found that the fat cells

让他们感到惊讶的是 研究小组发现

were also manufacturing

脂肪细胞也会产生一种

a hitherto unknown hormone, leptin.

迄今为止从未发现过的激素 瘦蛋白

To find out that the fat cell was itself producing a hormone

对于脂肪细胞自身可以产生激素

and actually actively participating

并且积极地参与到互相连通的

in a communication network was again revolutionary.

脂肪网络当中的发现是一项革命性的进展

It's changed the way we view fat tissue ever since.

它改变了我们看待脂肪组织的方式

It's not as dumb as we thought.

它并非如我们想象般迟钝

A dumb cell was turning out to be a smart storage system.

迟钝的细胞意外地成为了活跃的储存系统

The fat cells of the thin mice were manufacturing lots of leptin.

瘦老鼠的脂肪细胞产生了大量的瘦蛋白

The researchers quickly discovered

研究人员很快发现

that the obese mouse had none.

肥胖老鼠体内没有任何瘦蛋白

So researchers gave the fat

研究人员向胖老鼠体内注入了

mouse leptin to see if it would stop eating.

瘦蛋白 观察其是否能够停止进食

The results were profound. The

研究的结果具有重要的意义

mice lost 40% of their weight after just four weeks.

老鼠仅四周就减掉了百分之四十的重量