What's the connection between sleep and Alzheimer's disease? | Sleeping with Science, a TED series

Transcriber: TED Translators admin Reviewer: Ivana Korom

We're now becoming aware of a significant relationship

翻译人员: C Cheng 校对人员: Wanting Zhong

我们现在开始认识到

睡眠与阿兹海默症之间的重要关系。

between sleep and Alzheimer's disease.

[Sleeping with Science]

[ 科学睡眠 ]

Now, Alzheimer's disease is a form of dementia

阿兹海默症是失智症中的一种，

typified usually by memory loss and memory decline.

主要特征为记忆丧失和记忆衰退。

And what we've started to understand

我们已经开始了解到，

is that there are several different proteins

在阿兹海默症中，

that seem to go awry in Alzheimer's disease.

似乎有几种不同的蛋白质出现了问题。

One of those proteins is a sticky, toxic substance

其中一种蛋白是 一种粘稠的有毒物质，

called beta-amyloid that builds up in the brain.

它叫做 β-淀粉状蛋白， 会在脑内形成堆积，

The other is something called tau protein.

另一种叫 tau 蛋白。

How are these things related to sleep?

它们与睡眠有什么关系呢？

Well first, if we look at a large-scale epidemiological level,

首先，在大规模的流行病学层面，

what we know is that individuals

我们所知道的是，

who report sleeping typically less than six hours a night,

那些通常每晚睡眠少于 6 小时的人，

have a significantly higher risk

日后在大脑中

of going on to develop high amounts

产生大量 β-淀粉状蛋白的风险

of that beta-amyloid in their brain later in life.

会明显增加。

We also know that two sleep disorders,

我们还知道两种睡眠障碍，

including insomnia and sleep apnea, or heavy snoring,

包括失眠和睡眠窒息症， 也就是重度打鼾症，

are associated with a significantly higher risk

与在晚年罹患阿兹海默症的

of Alzheimer's disease in late life.

更高风险显著相关。

Those are, of course, simply associational studies.

当然，这些只是相关性研究，

They don't prove causality.

并不能证明因果关系。

But more recently,

但是最近， [左上: 阿兹海默症是

we actually have identified that causal evidence.

导致老年人失智症最常见的病因 ] 我们确实发现了因果证据。

In fact, if you take a healthy human being

事实上，以一个健康人为例，

and you deprive them of sleep for just one night,

你只需要让他少睡一晚，

and the next day, we see an immediate increase

第二天，我们立即就可以观察到

β-淀粉状蛋白的增长，

in that beta-amyloid,

both circulating in their bloodstream,

它不仅在血液

circulating in what we call the cerebrospinal fluid,

和所谓的脑脊髓液中循环，

and most recently, after just one night of sleep,

而且最近，在少睡一晚之后，

using special brain-imaging technology,

通过一种特殊的脑成像技术，

scientists have found that there is an immediate increase

科学家们发现， 在大脑中直接出现了

in beta-amyloid directly in the brain itself.

β-淀粉状蛋白的增长。

So that's the causal evidence.

这就证明了其间的因果关系。

What is it then about sleep

那么，为什么睡眠

that seems to provide a mechanism

似乎能提供一种机制

that prevents the escalation

来预防这些与阿兹海默症相关的

of these Alzheimer's-related proteins?

蛋白质的增长呢？

Well, several years ago,

几年前，

a scientist called Maiken Nedergaard

一位名叫麦肯 · 尼德佳德 （Maiken Nedergaard）的科学家

made a remarkable discovery.

取得了一个非凡的发现。

What she identified was a cleansing system in the brain.

她发现了大脑中的一个清洁系统。

Now, before that,

此前，

we knew that the body had a cleansing system

我们知道身体有一个清洁系统，

and many of you may be familiar with this.

很多人可能对此已十分熟悉。

It's called the lymphatic system.

它被称为淋巴系统。

But we didn't think that the brain had its own cleansing system.

但是我们没想到大脑 也有自己的清洁系统。

And studying mice,

通过研究老鼠，

she was actually able to identify a sewage system within the brain

她发现了大脑内的 一个 “污水处理系统”。

called the glymphatic system,

它被称为胶状淋巴系统，

named after the cells that make it up,

得名于构成这一系统的细胞，

called these glial cells.

叫做神经胶质细胞。

Now, if that wasn't remarkable enough,

如果这个还不够非凡的话，

she went on to make two more incredible discoveries.

她接着又得到了两个惊人的发现。

First, what she found is that that cleansing system in the brain

首先，她发现大脑里的那个清洁系统

is not always switched on in high-flow volume

并不是 24 小时始终保持

高流量的运转模式。

across the 24-hour period.

Instead, it was when those mice were actually sleeping,

而是只有当老鼠真正入睡，

particularly when they went into deep non-REM sleep,

尤其是当它们进入深度 非快速动眼睡眠的状态后，

that that cleansing system kicked into high gear.

那个清洁系统才会开始高速运转。

The third component that she discovered,

她的第三个发现

and this is what makes it relevant

关系到

to our discussion on Alzheimer's disease,

我们所讨论的阿兹海默症：

is that one of the metabolic by-products,

新陈代谢的副产品之一，

one of the toxins that was cleared away during sleep,

即在睡眠中被清除的一种毒素，

was that sticky, toxic protein, beta-amyloid,

就是那个粘稠的、具有毒性的，

与阿兹海默症相关的 β-淀粉状蛋白。

linked to Alzheimer's disease.

And just recently, scientists in Boston have discovered

就在最近，波士顿的科学家发现了

a very similar type of pulsing, cleansing brain-mechanism

在人体中也有一种非常类似的

脉冲式大脑清洁机制。

in human beings as well.

Now, some of this discussion may sound perhaps a little depressing.

这里有些讨论也许 听起来有点儿令人郁闷。

We know that as we get older in life,

我们知道随着年龄的增加，

our sleep seems to typically decline,

我们的睡眠一般会减少，

and our risk for Alzheimer's generally increases.

而通常罹患阿兹海默症的风险会提高。

But I think there's actually a silver lining here,

但是我认为这里 其实是有一线希望的。

because unlike many of the other factors

因为睡眠不同于许多其它

that are associated with aging and Alzheimer's disease,

与衰老及阿兹海默症相关的因素，

for example, changes in the physical structure of the brain,

比如大脑物理结构的变化，

those are fiendishly difficult to treat

这些因素是极难医治的，

and medicine doesn't have any good wholesale approaches right now.

目前的医学还不具备 任何全面医治的良方。

But that sleep is a missing piece

但是睡眠正是

在解释衰老和阿兹海默症 这一谜团中缺失的一环。

in the explanatory puzzle of aging and Alzheimer's disease

is exciting because we may be able to do something about it.

这是非常激动人心的， 因为我们也许可以对此做些什么。

What if we could actually augment human sleep

如果我们能够延长人类的睡眠，

and try to improve the quality

并尝试改善

of that deep sleep in midlife,

中年人深度睡眠的质量会怎么样？

which is when we start to see the decline in deep sleep

我们看到深度睡眠的下降 正是在这个时期

beginning to happen.

What if we could actually shift

开始呈现的。

如果我们可以

把对阿兹海默症的 晚期治疗模式转变为

from a model of late-stage treatment in Alzheimer's disease

to a model of midlife prevention?

中年时期的预防模式又会如何？

Could we go from sick care to actually healthcare?

我们是否可以从疾病关怀 过渡到真正的医疗保健？

And by modifying sleep,

通过调整睡眠，

could we actually bend the arrow

我们是否有可能扭转

of Alzheimer's disease risk down on itself?

阿兹海默症发病风险的增长趋势？

That's something that I'm incredibly excited about

这是让我无比激动的事情，

and something that we're actively researching right now.

也是我们现在正在积极研究的课题。