研究发现：怀孕会改变大脑

　　From VOA Learning English, this is the Health and Lifestyle report.

　　这是美国之音慢速英语的《健康与生活方式》报道。

　　When a brain scientist at the University of California, Irvine got pregnant at the age of 38, she saw a rare chance.

　　当加州大学欧文分校的一位大脑科学家在38岁时怀孕时，她看到了一个难得的机会。

　　Neuroscientist Liz Chrastil wanted to see how her brain changed while she was pregnant.

　　神经科学家利兹·克拉斯蒂尔想看看自己怀孕期间大脑如何变化。

　　Chrastil was among a group of researchers who presented their findings in a new study.

　　克拉斯蒂尔是一组研究人员中的一员，他们在一项新研究中呈现了自己的发现。

　　It offers the first detailed map of one woman's brain through the steps of pregnancy, also called gestation.

　　该项新研究提供了首张女性在整个孕期(也称为妊娠)的脑图谱。

　　Researchers say that motherhood affects nearly every part of the brain.

　　研究人员表示，母体几乎影响大脑的每个部分。

　　The researchers studied the effects of pregnancy in only one person: Chrastil.

　　研究人员只在一个人身上研究了怀孕的影响：克拉斯蒂尔。

　　But their study has started a large international research project that aims to scan the brains of hundreds of women.

　　但他们的研究已经启动了一个大型国际研究项目，该项目打算扫描数百名女性的大脑。

　　The study could one day provide information about disorders like postpartum depression.

　　这项研究或许有一天会提供有关产后抑郁症等疾病的信息。

　　Postpartum means after birth has taken place.

　　产后是指分娩后。

　　Chrastil said it has been a very long process.

　　克拉斯蒂尔说这是一个非常漫长的过程。

　　"We did 26 scans before, during and after pregnancy…"

　　“我们在孕前期、孕中期和孕后期做了26次扫描……”

　　She said some of the findings were very noteworthy, or in her words "remarkable".

　　她说，其中一些发现非常值得注意，或者用她的话来说“引人注目”。

　　Chrastil is co-writer of the study that researchers published in Nature Neuroscience in September.

　　克拉斯蒂尔是众研究人员于九月份发表在《自然神经科学》上的这项研究的合著者。

　　More than 80 percent of the parts of the brain studied had reductions in the amount of gray matter, where thinking takes place.

　　所研究的大脑区域中，有超过80%的区域的灰质减少，而这些区域正是思维产生的地方。

　　This is an average of about four percent of the brain.

　　这平均约占大脑的4%。

　　This amount is nearly the same as the amount of reduction that happens during puberty.

　　这一数量几乎与青春期灰质减少的数量相同。

　　Puberty is the biological changes that cause a person to become a fertile adult.

　　青春期发生的生理变化使一个人成为一个有生育能力的成年人。

　　However, the researchers said the reduction is probably not a bad thing.

　　然而，研究人员表示，这种灰质减少可能不是一件坏事。

　　It might mean that networks of interconnected nerve cells called "neural circuits" are preparing for a new time in a woman's life.

　　这可能意味着被称为“神经回路”的相互连接的神经细胞网络正在为女性生活中的新阶段做准备。

　　The team began following Chrastil shortly before she became pregnant through in vitro fertilization.

　　在克拉斯蒂尔通过体外受精怀孕前不久，该团队就开始追踪记录她。

　　During the pregnancy and for two years after she gave birth, they continued doing MRI brain scans and blood tests to see how her brain changed.

　　在她怀孕期间和产后的两年里，他们继续对她进行核磁共振脑部扫描和血液检查，以了解其大脑如何变化。

　　During this time, Chrastil's sex hormones, like estrogen, increased and decreased.

　　在此期间，克拉斯蒂尔的性激素，比如雌激素，有增有减。

　　Some of the changes continued past pregnancy.

　　一些变化在怀孕后仍在继续。

　　Emily Jacobs is with the University of California, Santa Barbara and was also a co-writer of the study.

　　艾米丽·雅各布斯就职于加州大学圣塔芭芭拉分校，也是这项研究的合著者。

　　Jacobs said earlier studies had taken scans of the brain before and after pregnancy.

　　雅各布斯称，更早的研究对孕前孕后的大脑进行扫描。

　　But she said, none had shown changes in the brain as they were taking place.

　　但她说，扫描并未表现大脑发生变化。

　　Unlike past studies, this one centered on many inner areas of the brain as well as the cerebral cortex, the outermost area, said Joseph Lonstein.

　　约瑟夫·朗斯坦表示，与过去的研究不同，这次研究集中在大脑的许多内部区域以及最外面的大脑皮质。

　　He is a professor of neuroscience and psychology at Michigan State University and was not involved in the research.

　　他是密歇根州立大学的神经科学和心理学教授，并未参与这项研究。

　　Lonstein said, "it is a good first step to understanding much more about whole-brain changes that could be possible in a woman across pregnancy and postpartum."

　　朗斯坦说：“这是更多地了解女性在孕期和产后可能发生的全脑变化的良好开端。”

　　Research in animals has linked some brain changes with qualities that could help the animal care for an infant.

　　对动物的研究已经将一些大脑变化与有助于动物照顾幼崽的特性联系起来。

　　The new study does not deal with what the changes mean in terms of human behavior.

　　这项新研究并没有涉及这些变化对人类行为的影响。

　　However, Lonstein said that it does describe changes in brain areas involved in social cognition, or thinking.

　　然而，朗斯坦说，它确实描述了与社会认知或思维有关的大脑区域的变化。

　　This is how people act with others -- for example, how they understand their thoughts and feelings.

　　这是人们与他人相处的方式——例如，他们如何理解他人的想法和感受。

　　The researchers have partners in Spain, and they are developing what they call the Maternal Brain Project.

　　研究人员在西班牙有合作伙伴，他们正在开发所谓的“母体大脑计划”。

　　The Ann S. Bowers Women's Brain Health Initiative and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative support the project.

　　安·S·鲍尔斯女性大脑健康项目和陈-扎克伯格项目支持该项目。

　　The researchers say they hope scientists can use findings from more than one woman to predict problems such as postpartum depression.

　　研究人员表示，他们希望科学家能够利用不止一名女性的研究结果来预测产后抑郁症等问题。

　　"There is so much about the neurobiology of pregnancy that we don't understand yet,…" Jacobs said.

　　雅各布斯说：“关于怀孕涉及到的神经生物学，我们还有很多不了解的地方。”

　　She added that this is not because women and pregnancy are too complex.

　　她补充说，这并不是因为女性和怀孕太复杂。

　　"More is not known about pregnancy and the brain," she said, "because biomedical sciences have historically ignored women's health。"

　　她说：“关于怀孕和大脑的关系，人们还不太了解，因为生物医学科学历来忽视女性健康。”

　　And that's the Health and Lifestyle report, I'm Anna Matteo.

　　以上就是本期《健康与生活方式》报道，安娜·马特奥为您播报。