VOA慢速英语:Researchers Develop Treatment for PTSD

An international team of researchers has developed a drug that could help in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is a mental condition that can develop when someone seize a disturbing event, or serious of events.
一个国际研究小组的研究人员开发了一种药物，可能有助于治疗创伤后应激障碍（或称为PTSD）。创伤后应激障碍是指在遇到令人不安或严重事件时出现的一种精神状况。

People who suffer from it experience increased anxiety, depression and may have problems with their memory. Scientists say the drug could be given to someone immediately following a trauma to prevent the development of PTSD.
患有这种病的人会越来越焦虑、抑郁，并可能存在记忆问题。科学家们称，这种药物可以给刚遭遇创伤的人，用来预防患上创伤后应激障碍。

Raul Andero Gali is a researcher at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, who studies the biology of PTSD. He says it is the only mental disorder that has a known trigger or cause, such as a car accident, or being in armed conflict. And this means researchers have a better chance of finding a treatment for it.
Raul Andero Gali是佐治亚州亚特兰大埃默里大学的研究员，他研究创伤后应激障碍的生物学机制。他说，这是唯一一种已知触发原因的心理障碍，例如车祸、或武装冲突。这意味着研究人员有更好的机会来寻求治疗它。

"So we can even define more clearly which is the stimulus or the stressor that trigger[s] the disease, whereas with other psychiatric diseases it is way more difficult.  For example, with depression or schizophrenia it is more uncertain what is triggering that disease."
“所以，我们甚至可以更明确的界定是哪种刺激触发了这种疾病，而在其它精神疾病中这相当困难。例如，抑郁症或精神分裂症是由什么触发的就相当不明朗。”

Doctor Gali and other researchers at Emory, the University of Miami in Florida, Scripps Research Institute in Florida and the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, Germany worked to find gene associated with the development of PTSD.
Gali博士和埃默里大学、佛罗里达州的迈阿密大学和斯克里普斯研究所，还有德国慕尼黑的马普精神病学研究所的其他研究人员致力于找到和创伤后应激障碍发作相关联的基因。

They found that in some people experiencing a high degree of stress, a gene called OPRL1 releases a protein receptor for a molecule called nociceptin in the brain. Doctor Gali says when that happens, people experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
他们发现，一些经历了高度压力的人，一种名为OPRL1的基因对大脑中的孤菲肽释放出一种蛋白质受体。Gali博士称，当这种情况发生时，人们就会出现创伤后应激障碍的症状。

The researchers experiment it on mice to develop a drug that blocks the receptor, reducing symptoms of anxiety and fear. Doctor Gali says investigators tested their drug, called SR8993, in mice train to feel an electric shock whenever they heard a specific sound. The mice became very stressed when they heard the sound. Doctor Gali says immediately after the sound and shocks, some of the mice were given SR8993, others were given a drug with no active ingredient called a placebo.
研究人员在小白鼠身上实验，以开发一种药物来阻止这种受体，用以减少焦虑和恐惧的症状。Gali博士称，调查人员在小白鼠身上测试了他们这种名为SR8933的新药。这些小白鼠经过训练，当它们听到特定声音时就会受到电击，而当它们在听到这种声音时会变得非常焦虑。Gali博士说，在听到这些声音和电击之后，一些小白鼠立即给予服用SR8993，另一些小白鼠立即给予服用无活性成分的药物的安慰剂。

"The day after the animals were tested to see how afraid they were for the tone.  And the animals that got the compound SR8993 presented less fear to the tone.  So their conservation of fear memories is decreased."
“一天之后这些小白鼠进行测试，看它们会有多怕这种声音。服用了SR8993化合物的小白鼠对这种声音的恐惧降低了。因此，它们恐惧记忆保护减少了。”

Doctor Gali says much work needs to be done to determine if SR8993 is effective in humans. If it is, he believes it could be given to, for example, soldiers returning home from a war zone to keep them from developing PTSD.
Gali博士称，还有许多工作要做，以确定SR8993是否对人类有效。如果有效的话，他认为可以考虑给刚从战区回国的士兵服用，以防止他们患上创伤后应激障碍。

An article on this possible treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
一篇关于创伤后应激障碍的可能疗法的文章发表在《科学转化医学》杂志上。