“返老还童”也许不是没可能

A new study shows that scientists might be able to not only slow the process of aging but actually reverse it, Benjamin Button-style.

一项新的研究表明，科学家可能不仅能够减缓衰老的进程，而且能够真正逆转衰老，像本杰明巴顿一样。

Volunteers in a California study were given a cocktail of three common drugs for one year– a growth hormone and two diabetes medications. Scientists had been testing the drugs in the hope of regenerating the thymus gland.

在加州进行的一项研究中，志愿者们被要求服用三种常用药物的混合物，为期一年——一种生长激素和两种糖尿病药物。科学家们一直在测试这些药物，希望能使胸腺再生。

But upon further analysis, they found that participants had lost an average of 2.5 years on their “epigenetic clock,” measured by analyzing marks on a person’s genomes, according to the journal Nature. Participants’ immune systems also showed signs of rejuvenation.

但根据《自然》(Nature)杂志的报道，在进一步分析之后，他们发现，参与者平均失去了2.5年的“表观遗传时钟”。“表观遗传时钟”是通过分析一个人的基因组标记来测量的。参与者的免疫系统也显示出恢复活力的迹象。

Even the scientists who conducted the study were shocked by the results. “I’d expected to see slowing down of the clock, but not a reversal,” UCLA researcher Steve Horvath told Nature. “That felt kind of futuristic.”

即使是进行这项研究的科学家也对结果感到震惊。加州大学洛杉矶分校的研究人员史蒂夫·霍瓦特告诉《自然》杂志说:“我本以为时钟会慢下来，但并没有倒转过来。”“感觉有点未来感。”

Researchers warn the findings are preliminary: the study only included nine participants and did not include a control group. But if further research confirms the findings, the impact on health care and society’s relationship with aging as a whole could be massive.

研究人员警告说，这些发现只是初步的:这项研究只包括9名参与者，没有包括对照组。但如果进一步的研究证实了这一发现，这将对医疗保健以及整个社会与老龄化的关系产生巨大的影响。

The researchers are planning a larger study with more diverse participants by age, gender and ethnicity and the three drugs are being tested independently to determine specific effects.

研究人员正计划进行一项更大的研究，参与者的年龄、性别和种族也更加多样化，目前正在对这三种药物进行独立测试，以确定其具体疗效。