聯系我們
全國統一服務熱線:
電話:021-58446796
公司QQ:732319580
郵箱:daisy.xu@easytranslation.com.cn
網址:www.jpgfs2012.com
地址:上海浦東金橋開發區金豫路700號6號樓1樓
High levels of estrogen in the womb linked to autism 自閉癥與子宮內的雌激素水平高有關 Credit: ? alexlmx / Adobe Stock 上海譯銳翻譯 2019-8-7 12:09 a.m. Scientist have identified a link between exposure to high levels of oestrogen sex hormones in the womb and the likelihood of developing autism. The findings are published today in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. 科學家發現子宮內高水平的雌性激素可能會導致患上自閉癥。研究結果于今日發表于《分子精神病學》刊物。 The discovery adds further evidence to support the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism first proposed 20 years ago. 這一發現找到了更多支持自閉癥產前性類固醇理論的證據。該理論于20年前被首次提出。 Prenatal:產前 Sex steroid:性類固醇 Autism:自閉癥 In 2015, a team of scientists at the University of Cambridge and the State Serum Institute in Denmark measured the levels of four prenatal steroid hormones, including two known as androgens, in the amniotic fluid in the womb and discovered that they were higher in male foetuses who later developed autism. These androgens are produced in higher quantities in male than in female foetuses on average, so might also explain why autism occurs more often in boys. They are also known to masculinise parts of the brain, and to have effects on the number of connections between brain cells. 2015年,來自劍橋大學和丹麥國家血清研究所的科學家團隊測量了子宮羊水中四種產前甾類激素,其中兩種為雄性激素。通過測量發現,這四種激素偏高的男性胎兒隨后患有自閉癥。平均而言,男性胚胎所產生的雄激素數量要比女性胚胎多,因此這也解釋了為什么自閉癥更多出現在男孩身上。這些激素也可以使部分大腦雄性化并會對大腦細胞間的連接數量產生影響。 Androgen:雄激素 Amniotic fluid: 羊水 Today, the same scientists have built on their previous findings by testing the amniotic fluid samples from the same 98 individuals sampled from the Danish Biobank, which has collected amniotic samples from over 100,000 pregnancies, but this time looking at another set of prenatal sex steroid hormones called oestrogens. This is an important next step because some of the hormones previously studied are directly converted into oestrogens. 今天,同樣的科學家團隊們在此前實驗結果的基礎上測試了同樣98位個人的羊水樣本。這98人的樣本由丹麥生物資料庫提供。丹麥生物資料庫收集了超過10萬名孕婦的羊膜樣本。在這次的實驗中,科學家們會查看另外一種被稱為雌激素的產前性類固醇激素。這是非常重要的一步,因為此前研究的部分激素會直接轉變為雌激素。 Biobank:生物資料庫 Oestrogen:雌激素 All four oestrogens were significantly elevated, on average, in the 98 foetuses who later developed autism, compared to the 177 foetuses who did not. High levels of prenatal oestrogens were even more predictive of likelihood of autism than were high levels of prenatal androgens (such as testosterone). Contrary to popular belief that associates oestrogens with feminisation, prenatal oestrogens have effects on brain growth and also masculinise the brain in many mammals. 平均而言,與177例未患有自閉癥的胚胎相比,在98例后來患有自閉癥的胚胎中,所有四類雌激素水平均顯著升高。高水平的產前雌激素甚至比高水平的產前雄激素(比如睪酮)對自閉癥更加具有預測性。與大眾認為的雌激素與女性化有關相反,產前雌激素對大腦的發育具有影響并會在許多哺乳動物中使大腦雄性化。 foetus:胚胎 Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge, who led this study and who first proposed the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism, said: "This new finding supports the idea that increased prenatal sex steroid hormones are one of the potential causes for the condition. Genetics is well established as another, and these hormones likely interact with genetic factors to affect the developing foetal brain." 劍橋大學自閉癥研究中心主任Simon Baron-Cohen教授是該項研究的引領者并是提出自閉癥產前性類固醇理論的第一人。Simon教授表示:“這一新研究結果證明,增加的產前性類固醇激素是造成自閉癥的潛在原因之一。遺傳學是另外一個重要的原因。這些激素很可能與遺傳因素相互作用以影響正在發育中的胎兒大腦。” Alex Tsompanidis, a PhD student in Cambridge who worked on the study, said: "These elevated hormones could be coming from the mother, the baby or the placenta. Our next step should be to study all these possible sources and how they interact during pregnancy." 同樣參與研究的、劍橋大學的博士生Alex Tsompanidis表示:“升高的激素水平可能來自于母體、胎兒或胎盤。我們下一步的研究工作應該是研究所有的激素來源以及它們在孕期是如何相互作用的。” Placenta:胎盤 Dr Alexa Pohl, part of the Cambridge team, said: "This finding is exciting because the role of oestrogens in autism has hardly been studied, and we hope that we can learn more about how they contribute to foetal brain development in further experiments. We still need to see whether the same result holds true in autistic females." 劍橋大學研究團隊成員Alexa Pohl博士表示:“這一結果讓人振奮,因為幾乎沒有人去研究雌激素在自閉癥中所起的作用。我們希望在后期的實驗中,能夠了解更多這些雌激素是如何對胎兒大腦發育產生影響的。我們仍需判斷同樣的結果對于患有自閉癥的女性是否也同樣適用。” However, the team cautioned that these findings cannot and should not be used to screen for autism. "We are interested in understanding autism, not preventing it," added Professor Baron-Cohen. 然而,研究團隊也提醒到,這些結果不能且不應用于篩查自閉癥。Boron-Cohen教授補充表示:“我們所感興趣的點是了解而非預防自閉癥。” Dr Arieh Cohen, the biochemist on the team, based at the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen, said: "This is a terrific example of how a unique biobank set up 40 years ago is still reaping scientific fruit today in unimagined ways, through international collaboration." 團隊的生物化學家、位于哥本哈根國家血清研究所的Arieh Cohen博士表示:“這次的研究很好地證明了,通過國際間的合作,40年前所建立的、獨一無二的生物資料庫仍然在以無法想象的方式收獲科學研究的碩果。” Serum:血清 文章來源:科學日報 編輯:Susan