|
简单翻译大概:
路透社讯, 澳大利亚科学家最近在澳大利亚消化周刊上发表了一个新的文献陈述发明了一种新的方法监测肝脏功能和纤维化.
科学家目前可以不用肝穿通过一个简单的呼吸测验监测就可以到评估因为乙肝, 丙肝, 脂肪肝, 血液病造成的严重纤维化.
利用肝脏是唯一代谢咖啡因的器官, 他们将咖啡因和一个短寿的同位素carbon isotope混合在饮料给患者服用, 一小时后在门诊就可以通过监测被肝脏分解的, 以二氧化碳形式释放出来的同位素carbon isotope的含量和计算机分析就能够了解肝脏状态. 因为肝脏中的一种酶是专门用来代谢咖啡因的, 而这种酶分解代谢咖啡因的能力和肝脏的损害和能力有密切关系, 如果肝脏损害, 这种酶酶变化, 代谢咖啡因就会变化, 从而同位素的释放也会变化. 如果肝脏的真实功能不好, 这个代谢过程将会瘫痪或受到影响.
负责此项研究的PARK医生说, 这将是一个很大的突破和潜力, 不仅仅能够监测肝脏的损害程度, 而且还能够追踪观察用药治疗的效益.
他们也注意到, 吸烟者会提高carbon isotope 代谢两倍,所以他们在电脑分析的时候可以根据患者的生活习惯加以分析. 他们也总结了一个吸烟, 不吸烟者此项检查的对照区域比值等. 希望经过更多的临床求证, 有一天能够用到商业上.
21世纪分子生物医学的时代, 分子生物以日新月异的速度在变化进步. 希望更多的新技术和理论给我们带来光明.
原文:
Caffeine Breath Test Measures Liver Function
Source: www.reutershealth
by Marilyn Bitomsky
BRISBANE, Australia (Reuters Health) - Forget the liver biopsy. Now it's possible to detect advanced fibrosis—a complication of many liver diseases including hepatitis B, hepatitis C, fatty liver disease and hemochromatosis—by means of a simple breath test.
An Australian research team has developed the test, which involves drinking a small quantity of caffeine tagged with a short-lived isotope of carbon, and then blowing into a test tube one hour later.
The test can be conducted in an outpatient setting, so patients don't need to take time off work for a long procedure.
Describing the test at Australian Gastroenterology Week 2004, Dr. Gordon Park, a gastroenterologist at Concord Hospital in Sydney, said the test is "a promising method of assessing the severity of liver disease and monitoring a patient's response to treatment".
Caffeine was selected for the test because it is metabolized exclusively through the liver, he said. "An enzyme in the liver breaks it down, and the ability of that enzyme to break it down is intimately related to overall liver function."
The carbon isotope incorporated into the caffeine is eventually expelled in the breath as carbon dioxide. Because the isotope is slightly radioactive, the amount of it can be easily measured
"If the liver is not functioning well, metabolism of caffeine is impaired," Parks explained, and the amount of carbon isotope in the breath is reduced.
Cigarette smoking is a major confounder of the test in that it increases the activity of the liver enzyme, Park commented. Smokers generally have double the normal activity of nonsmokers.
"We can factor that into the analysis, and we have already done studies looking specifically at smokers," Park said. "We have now formulated a reference range for smokers and for nonsmokers."
[此贴子已经被作者于2004-10-19 4:24:12编辑过]
| 
发表于 2004-10-19 17:15
