2022年经济学人 实验室人造红细胞已被输入人体(1)

Blood not so simple.

血液不简单。

Red cells made in a laboratory have been infused into people.

实验室人造红细胞已被输入人体。

Until the 1940s, blood transfusions² often went wrong because some of the main blood-group systems, such as the Rhesus factor, had yet to be discovered.

20世纪40年代之前，输血经常出现问题，因为一些主要的血型系统，如恒河猴因子（Rh因子），还没有被发现。

This hit or miss approach to matching donors⁴ with recipients⁵ is now a thing of the past, as tests for all sorts of characteristics of an individual's blood have become available.

而现在，捐献者和接受者只能随机配对的时代已经成为过去，有很多方法可以用来测试个人血液的特征。

But finding a well-matched donor³ can still be difficult.

但寻找血型匹配的捐献者仍然是件难事。

Some patients have blood types so rare that there may be but a handful of appropriate donors in the country where they live.

一些患者的血型过于罕见，他们所在的国家可能只有少数合适的捐赠者。

On November 7th a consortium of researchers at several British institutions, co-ordinated by NHS Blood and Transplant, a government health authority, and Bristol University, announced a step towards solving this problem.

11月7日，一个由英国几个机构的研究人员组成的联盟，在政府卫生机构，即英国国民保健制度血液与移植中心和布里斯托大学的协调下，宣布了一项能够解决这一难题的方案。

They have successfully transfused⁶ into two healthy volunteers red blood cells grown from appropriate stem cells donated by others.

他们已经成功培养了捐献者捐献的干细胞，并将从中收获的红细胞输入到两名健康的志愿者体内。

Until now, such manufactured red cells had been given only to those whose own stem cells had been the source.

在此之前，这种干细胞培养的人造红细胞只能用于给提供干细胞的人输血。

The stem cells used for this experiment, however, were extracted from blood donated in the normal way.

然而，这项实验中用到的干细胞是从正常方式捐献的血液中提取的。

The researchers mixed into this donated blood magnetic beads⁸ armed with proteins that stick specifically to the stem cells in question, binding⁹ them to the bead⁷.

研究人员在捐献的血液中混入磁珠，这些磁珠携带的蛋白质能够粘在有问题的干细胞上，从而将这些干细胞与磁珠连结在一起。

The beads, replete¹⁰ with their cellular¹¹ cargo¹², are then easily collected.

而满载干细胞的磁珠能够轻松回收。

That done, the harvested stem cells were grown and multiplied in a nutrient¹³ solution for between 18 and 21 days, which served to turn them into young versions of red blood cells known as reticulocytes.

完成这一步筛选后，收获的合格干细胞将在营养液中生长繁殖18至21天，分化为尚未完全成熟的红细胞，即网织红细胞。

Once transfused, reticulocytes quickly develop into the real McCoy.

一旦完成输血，网织红细胞很快就会发育成真正的红细胞。

This approach would increase the value of batches¹⁴ of rare blood - which could, once plundered¹⁵ of stem cells, also be used in the normal way.

这种方法将提高大批稀有血液的价值，即使没有匹配的干细胞，也可以通过输入人造红细胞让血液维持运转。

Moreover, being newly minted, lab-made red blood cells would be expected to last longer in a recipient's body than those from a normal transfusion¹, since transfused blood inevitably¹⁶ contains a fair proportion of cells that are on their last legs.

此外，与普通血液相比，预计实验室新制造的红细胞在接受者体内存活的时间更长，因为普通血液中一定会含有一定比例快要死亡的红细胞。

1 transfusion   

n.输血，输液

参考例句：

• She soon came to her senses after a blood transfusion.输血后不久她就苏醒了。
• The doctor kept him alive by a blood transfusion.医生靠输血使他仍然活着。

2 transfusions   

n.输血( transfusion的名词复数 )；输液；倾注；渗透

参考例句：

• Still, transfusions have apparently never spread the disease, even among hemophiliacs. 还有，输血很明显从未传播过这种病，即使在血友病人之间也是如此。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 口蹄疫疯牛病
• Blood transfusions are a special, limited example of tissue transplantation. 输血是一个特殊的、有限制的组织移植的例子。 来自辞典例句

3 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

4 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 transfused   

v.输（血或别的液体）( transfuse的过去式和过去分词 )；渗透；使…被灌输或传达

参考例句：

• He transfused his own courage into his men. 他用自己的勇气鼓舞了士兵。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The professor transfused his enthusiasm for research into his students. 教授把自己的研究热忱移注给学生。 来自辞典例句

7 bead   

n.念珠；(pl.)珠子项链；水珠

参考例句：

• She accidentally swallowed a glass bead.她不小心吞下了一颗玻璃珠。
• She has a beautiful glass bead and a bracelet in the box.盒子里有一颗美丽的玻璃珠和手镯。

8 beads   

n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链

参考例句：

• a necklace of wooden beads 一条木珠项链
• Beads of perspiration stood out on his forehead. 他的前额上挂着汗珠。

9 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

10 replete   

adj.饱满的，塞满的；n.贮蜜蚁

参考例句：

• He was replete with food and drink.他吃喝得饱饱的。
• This immense space may be replete with happiness and glory.这巨大的空间可能充满了幸福和光荣。

11 cellular   

adj.移动的；细胞的，由细胞组成的

参考例句：

• She has a cellular telephone in her car.她的汽车里有一部无线通讯电话机。
• Many people use cellular materials as sensitive elements in hygrometers.很多人用蜂窝状的材料作为测量温度的传感元件。

12 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

13 nutrient   

adj.营养的，滋养的；n.营养物，营养品

参考例句：

• Magnesium is the nutrient element in plant growth.镁是植物生长的营养要素。
• The roots transmit moisture and nutrient to the trunk and branches.根将水分和养料输送到干和枝。

14 batches   

一批( batch的名词复数 )； 一炉； （食物、药物等的）一批生产的量； 成批作业

参考例句：

• The prisoners were led out in batches and shot. 这些囚犯被分批带出去枪毙了。
• The stainless drum may be used to make larger batches. 不锈钢转数设备可用来加工批量大的料。

15 plundered   

掠夺，抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Many of our cultural treasures have been plundered by imperialists. 我国许多珍贵文物被帝国主义掠走了。
• The imperialists plundered many valuable works of art. 帝国主义列强掠夺了许多珍贵的艺术品。

16 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。