年轻人的血或能帮助治疗阿尔兹海默症

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.

这听起来比现实生活中的科学更像科幻小说，但斯坦福大学的研究人员宣布了一项新研究的首批成果，在这个研究中，研究人员将年轻献血者的血注入到一小群轻微至中度阿尔兹海默症患者的体内，希望能够改善这一疾病的症状。

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.

该研究于周六在波士顿举行的阿尔兹海默症临床试验会议上提出，并不像看上去的那般牵强。斯坦福大学的科学家们开创了一个叫做异种共生的过程，在这个过程中，年轻老鼠和老年老鼠被同样的血液系统连接在一起。在最初的研究中，研究人员很吃惊的看到年轻老鼠开始呈现更老的新陈代谢和慢性疾病的迹象。在接下来的研究中，老年老鼠不仅血液和年轻老鼠相连，而且还被注射了年轻老鼠的血液，这一研究更是让人大开眼界。老年老鼠的记忆开始提升，也就是说它们能够走完迷宫，还能在一段时间后找到一个特定的目标。

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.

这激发了斯坦福大学的另一组研究人员去观察是否能在人类身上看到同样的大脑变化，尤其是出现阿尔兹海默症早期迹象的人群（阿尔兹海默症会影响记忆）。

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.

他们招募了9位志愿者，并要求这些志愿者连续四周每周都来实验室获取年轻人的血浆（这是他们从斯坦福大学血库中获得的）或是安慰剂溶液。然后，这些人独自呆了6周，之后再连续四周注射年轻人血浆或安慰剂（他们在第一个阶段没有被注射）。随后又招募了9名志愿者，他们只是连续四周注射了年轻人的血浆。

"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."

"我们希望看到血浆对于他们来说是安全的，"斯坦福大学神经病学和神经科学临床副教授及本实验的首席研究员莎伦·莎博士说道。"我根本就没想到会有任何认知方面的改变。"

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.

但这正是他们所发现的。在这18个志愿者中，很明显血浆起到了作用。那些注射血浆的人在独立性方面有着明显改善，比如他们独自购物、掌控金融和确保支票收支平衡的能力。