Human cells are outnumbered ten-to-one by the microbes that thrive in and on us.
人类的细胞与我们身上和体内的微生物相比数量还不足十分之一。
Now a study finds that the tiny organisms living in our lungs may protect us from asthma.
现在一项研究发现我们肺部中的一些微小组织也许能保护我们免受哮喘侵害。
A newborn's lungs start out sterile and then become colonized by microbes.
新生儿的肺刚开始是没有被污染的,之后才有微生物进驻。
To see how lung microbes might influence disease susceptibility, researchers studied mice, which also start with sterile lungs that soon host microbes.
为了探究这些肺部微生物是如何影响它们宿主的疾病易感性,研究人员们用小鼠进行了试验,因为小鼠也是新生肺没有被污染然后微生物才成为宿主。
In the first two weeks of life, these microbial communities shift and proliferate.
在出生后的前两周内,这些新的微生物群调整变换并且开始增殖。
So the scientists looked at three groups of mice:
所以科学家们观察了三组实验小鼠:
babies three days old, 15-day-old mice, and two-month old adults.
出生三天大的小鼠,出生15天的小鼠,以及两个月大的成年鼠。
All were exposed to dust mites, which provoke inflammation.
这3组都曝露在可以激发体内免疫炎症反应的微生物灰尘环境中。
The newborn mice developed inflamed lungs—similar to asthma.
新生小鼠的肺器官就这样发炎了—和哮喘的病理现象类似。
But the older groups remained mostly inflammation free, indicating a protective role for their lung microbes.
但是年龄稍大的试验组结果显示大部分小鼠都没有被诱发出肺部炎症,这显示出肺部的微生物群起到了某种保护作用。
The researchers then exposed older mice whose lungs had been kept sterile to mites.
研究人员们然后由对无菌环境下生长发育成熟年龄大的小鼠进行了同类试验。
These mice did get inflamed lungs.
这些小鼠的肺也发炎了。
The study is in the journal Nature Medicine.
这项研究结果已在《自然医学》杂志上发表。
The researchers say that early lung colonization by a diverse, protective microbial community appears crucial.
这些研究人员们表示,肺在早期就被多种有保护作用的微生物群落光顾是很重要的。
They hope to extend these studies to human infants—to better understand our lung microbes, and help kids breathing freely.
他们希望扩展到人类新生儿的相关研究上—为了更好理解我们肺部中的微生物,并且使得婴幼儿能自由的呼吸空气。