研究发现，空气污染颗粒可能会进入子宫中的胎儿

研究发现，空气污染颗粒可能会进入子宫中的胎儿

New evidence has been found that air pollution can breach a mother's placenta and potentially reach fetuses in the womb, raising the possibility of future health problems.

新发现的证据表明，空气污染会破坏母亲的胎盘，并可能影响子宫中的胎儿，从而增加未来出现健康问题的可能性。

Researchers found that when pregnant women breathe in black carbon -- created by the combustion of fossil fuels, such as in diesel-powered cars or the burning of coal -- harmful particles can make their way from the lungs to the placenta and may reach fetuses directly.

研究人员发现，当孕妇吸入由燃烧化石燃料(如柴油汽车或燃煤)造成的炭黑时，有害颗粒会从肺部进入胎盘，并可能直接到达胎儿。

Dirty air has previously been linked to increased miscarriages, premature births and low birth weights among infants, as a result of the effects of pollution on the mother.

此前，由于污染对母亲的影响，婴儿流产、早产和出生体重低与布满灰尘的空气有关。

However, the placenta -- an organ that attaches itself to the womb during pregnancy, allowing oxygen and nutrients to pass from the mother's blood supply to the fetus through the umbilical cord -- was previously thought to be an "impenetrable barrier."

然而，胎盘是怀孕期间附着在子宫上的一种器官，氧气和营养物质通过脐带从母亲的血液传递给胎儿，而胎盘此前被认为是一个“不可逾越的障碍”。

A study last year was the first to suggest this wasn't the case, after pollutants were found in the placentas of five pregnant women in the United Kingdom.

去年，在英国五名孕妇的胎盘中发现污染物后，一项研究首次表明情况并非如此。

New research by scientists at Hasselt University and published Tuesday in the Nature Communications journal examined 25 non-smoking women who were giving birth in the Belgian city of Hasselt. Immediately after birth, the researchers collected the women's placentas where they found black carbon had accumulated.

哈瑟尔特大学的科学家们于本周二在《自然通讯》杂志上发表了一项最新研究，对比利时哈瑟尔特市的25名不吸烟孕妇进行了调查。生育后不久，研究人员收集了这些女性的胎盘，他们发现有炭黑聚集。

The more black carbon the women were exposed to during pregnancy, the more black carbon was found in the placenta.

女性在怀孕期间接触的炭黑越多，胎盘中发现的炭黑越多。

Black carbon particles come from a range of sources as well as cars and power plants -- coal stoves in households, kerosine lamps, and open burning of farmland for agriculture.

炭黑颗粒来自多种来源，包括汽车和发电厂——家庭使用煤炉、煤油灯，以及农业中的露天焚烧的农田。

The study cautions that more research is needed to show whether once inside the placenta, the particles can travel to the fetus directly, but the results prove that placentas do in fact allow through particles like black carbon, providing "compelling evidence" for this theory.

该研究警告说，还需要更多的研究来证明，一旦进入胎盘，这些颗粒是否能够直接进入胎儿体内，但研究结果证明，胎盘确实能够通过像炭黑这样的颗粒，为这一理论提供了“令人信服的证据”。

It's the latest step in research into the link between pollution and birth -- a 2017 report also found that exhaust fumes and soot from road traffic in London could be causing low birth weights in babies. The 2018 study, also conducted in London, found similar results to the Hasselt study -- but the particle composition hadn't been identified, and researchers could only speculate the pollution particles were carbon.

这是研究污染与出生之间关系的最新进展——2017年的一份报告还发现，伦敦道路交通排放的废气和烟尘可能导致婴儿出生体重偏低。同样在伦敦进行的2018年的研究发现了与哈瑟尔特研究相似的结果，但粒子组成尚未确定，研究人员只能推测污染粒子是碳。