科学家研发出人造子宫 可助早产儿在子宫外存活

Doctors from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have invented an artificial womb to support critically premature babies, according to a study published in Nature Communications.

根据一项发表在《自然通讯》上的研究显示，费城儿童医院的医生们发明了一种可以维持重度早产儿发育的人造子宫。

In their experiment, six premature lambs were placed in artificial wombs immediately after caesarean deliveries at the equivalent of 23 weeks human gestation.

在实验中，6只相当于人类孕期23周的早产小羊在剖腹产之后被立刻放入人造子宫。

In the biobag, the lambs were immersed in a substitute amniotic fluid containing nutrients and chemicals designed to stimulate growth.

在这种生物袋里，这些小羊被浸入到含有养分和化学物质的替代羊水中以促进发育。

While floating inside the transparent plastic vessel - in some cases for four weeks - the lambs appeared to develop normally, transforming from bald, pink fetuses into fleecy, white newborns.

在这种透明塑料容器中漂浮的过程中，这些小羊似乎正常发育了（有些情况下只需4周），从光秃秃、粉嫩嫩的胎儿变成了毛茸茸的白色新生羊羔。

Doctors said that the pioneering approach could radically improve outcomes for human babies born so early that they cannot breathe, feed or fight infection without medical help.

医生们称，这种开创性的方法可以彻底改善人类早产儿不经医疗辅助就无法呼吸、进食、抵抗感染的状况。

"If we can support growth and organ maturation for only a few weeks, we can dramatically improve outcomes for extremely premature babies," Alan Flake, a foetal surgeon at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and lead author said.

费城儿童医院的胎儿外科医生、该研究的首席作者艾伦·弗莱克表示：“如果我们能在胎儿发育和器官成熟方面提供几个星期的帮助，那么我们就能极大的改善早产儿的情况。”