关于治疗脱发的文章（翻译）（转）

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　　今天看《经济学人》杂志，发现其中一篇是介绍脱发治疗的最新进展的，所以转了过来给各位发友分享。希望大家不要灰心，医疗技术总是不断向前发展的，相信总会有治愈的一天。
　　另：《经济学人》（The Economist）是一份由伦敦经济学人报纸有限公司出版的杂志，在全球发行。应该算世界最牛B的政经分析杂志了，所有的文章都不署名，集体创作。除了部分杂志内容之外，它还开了“The Global Agenda”，分析最新的国际热点时事。它是如此出色，以至于所有的中国大的政经、财经、商业、时事杂志和报纸都拿它做刊例。

Hair today, hair tomorrow
永葆秀发

Jun 5th 2008
From The Economist print edition
2008年6月5日《经济学人》印刷版

A cure for baldness
秃顶治疗法


　　THE success of Silvio Berlusconi’s hair transplant, four years ago, relied on the fact that the septuagenarian prime minister had enough of a thatch on the back of his head to enable some of it to be transferred to his thinning top. Although hair transplants have advanced to the stage where they are virtually undetectable (no more plugs of hair), they still rely on moving hairs from one place to another. So, though hairlines such as Mr Berlusconi’s can be thickened up, or even straightened, there may well not be enough material available to lower a hairline to its former, youthful level.
　　四年前，西尔维奥·贝鲁斯科尼的头发移植获得成功，这次成 功靠的是这位古稀之年的意大利总理脑后的一块够浓密的头发，使之能移植到其稀疏的头顶上。虽然头发移植技术已经发展到使种植的毛发外观自然（与周围的头发 无区别），但该技术仍然要靠从一皮瓣到另一条皮瓣置换。因此，虽然象贝鲁斯科尼那样的发际线能变粗，甚至变直，但很可能没有足够可获移植的自体头发使得他 的发际线低到其以前年轻时的水平。

　　Finite supply remains the main drawback of this sort of transplant surgery. The most common form of hair loss in men is “male pattern baldness”, characterised by a receding hairline and the thinning of the hair on the crown. It is caused by hormones and mediated by genetic predisposition. Hair transplants work because the hairs at the back of a man’s head are not vulnerable to hormonal attack, and will thus grow quite contentedly in their new home—assuming there are enough of them to transplant.
　　实施这类移植手术的主要障碍仍是可供移植的自体头发有限。“秃顶”
是男性掉头发的最普遍的现象，其特点是发际线后移且头顶上的头发稀稀疏疏。造成秃顶的原因是激素诱导与遗传倾向。头发移植能成功是因为男性后脑枕头发不易受激素影响，假如有够多的话，那这种头发在新种植的头皮上会长得相当好。

　　For those so follicularly challenged that they have little hair to move around in this way, however, there is now hope. This comes not in a jar, but in a test-tube from a Manchester-based company called Intercytex. The firm’s technique exploits the regenerative properties of what are known as dermal papilla cells. These are the cells that create hair follicles in the first place. They remain at the base of the hair when they have finished their job.

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　　Some years ago it was discovered that when these cells are relocated, an entirely new hair will grow. That observation is only useful, though, if you can multiply dermal papilla cells—and do so in a way that allows them to keep their ability to induce hair growth. For, in normal culture, dermal papilla cells quickly lose this sought-after ability.
　　几年前，研究发现这些细胞移植后，就会长出全新的头发。然而，如果你能用一种方法培养繁殖人毛发小囊皮肤乳头细胞，使该细胞保持诱导头发生长的能力，该研究才有应用价值，因为，按正常培育，这种细胞很快丧失我们所渴望的诱导头发生长的能力。

　　This, says Nick Higgins, Intercytex’s boss, has taxed scientists for years. Intercytex appears to be working on two solutions. Although it is understandably tight-lipped about the exact mechanism behind its success, one probably enlists the help of cells called keratinocytes, which interact naturally with the dermal papilla cells of the hair follicle and secrete a chemical factor that supports their growth. At present, the identity of this growth factor is a mystery. However, it is likely that one of Intercytex’s methods involves supplying this factor to cultured dermal papilla cells. Intercytex’s second approach seems to involve culturing the dermal papilla cells with proteins that take part in signalling during the process that creates hair.
　　Intercytex 公司老板说，这一细胞培育难题耗费科学家们多年的心血。Intercytex 显然在研究两套技术方案。该公司对细胞成功繁殖的准确机理守口如瓶，这是可以理解的，但有人可能借助角化细胞作用，该细胞容易与人毛发小囊皮肤乳头细胞相 互作用，分泌一种支持细胞生长的化学因子。当前，这种生长因子的鉴定还是秘密，然而，Intercytex 公司有一种技术方法可能要加入这种生长因子来培育人毛发小囊皮肤乳头细胞。另一种技术方案似乎加入一些相关蛋白质来培育人毛发小囊皮肤乳头细胞，这些蛋白 质参与头发生长过程的信号传递。

　　The long and short of it is that being able to multiply these cells while preserving their efficacy opens the way for unlimited supplies of head hair. Intercytex is therefore conducting a trial of the technology in Manchester. Nineteen “patients” have had a small amount of hair removed, follicles and all, from the backs of their heads. Their dermal papilla cells have been extracted, multiplied and re-injected into their scalps. The trial’s full results will not be available until March 2009, but the company has already said that at least two-thirds of its patients have generated new hair within six months.
　　简而言之，这种化学因子或蛋白质既能繁殖这些细胞又能使该细胞保持促进头发生长的活力。因此，Intercytex 公司在曼彻斯特开始进行这项技术的临床实验。从19位病患头部皮肤取出少量毛囊,萃取出真皮毛乳头细胞,浸入特制培养液中让它们大量繁殖,然后再将新细胞 以注射方式植入病患头皮。实验的全部结果要到2009年3月才能获得，但该公司已经说至少有三分之二患者在6个月长出新头发。

　　Unfortunately for eager baldies, regulations require more trials. As a result it is likely to be five years before any product is on the mark