研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，空氣污染顆?？赡軙M入子宮中的胎兒

研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，空氣污染顆?？赡軙M入子宮中的胎兒

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.

新發(fā)現(xiàn)的證據(jù)表明，空氣污染會破壞母親的胎盤，并可能影響子宮中的胎兒，從而增加未來出現(xiàn)健康問題的可能性。

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.

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，當孕婦吸入由燃燒化石燃料(如柴油汽車或燃煤)造成的炭黑時，有害顆粒會從肺部進入胎盤，并可能直接到達胎兒。

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，由于污染對母親的影響，嬰兒流產(chǎn)、早產(chǎn)和出生體重低與布滿灰塵的空氣有關。

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，胎盤是懷孕期間附著在子宮上的一種器官，氧氣和營養(yǎng)物質通過臍帶從母親的血液傳遞給胎兒，而胎盤此前被認為是一個“不可逾越的障礙”。

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，在英國五名孕婦的胎盤中發(fā)現(xiàn)污染物后，一項研究首次表明情況并非如此。

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.

哈瑟爾特大學的科學家們于本周二在《自然通訊》雜志上發(fā)表了一項最新研究，對比利時哈瑟爾特市的25名不吸煙孕婦進行了調查。生育后不久，研究人員收集了這些女性的胎盤，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)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.

女性在懷孕期間接觸的炭黑越多，胎盤中發(fā)現(xiàn)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.

炭黑顆粒來自多種來源，包括汽車和發(fā)電廠——家庭使用煤爐、煤油燈，以及農(nóng)業(yè)中的露天焚燒的農(nóng)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.

該研究警告說，還需要更多的研究來證明，一旦進入胎盤，這些顆粒是否能夠直接進入胎兒體內，但研究結果證明，胎盤確實能夠通過像炭黑這樣的顆粒，為這一理論提供了“令人信服的證據(jù)”。

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.

這是研究污染與出生之間關系的最新進展——2017年的一份報告還發(fā)現(xiàn)，倫敦道路交通排放的廢氣和煙塵可能導致嬰兒出生體重偏低。同樣在倫敦進行的2018年的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)了與哈瑟爾特研究相似的結果，但粒子組成尚未確定，研究人員只能推測污染粒子是碳。