Unlimited human eggs? 妇女可有无数卵子吗?

James Gallagher, BBC News

Stem cell can be used to create different types of tissue for human organs

媒体英语会带大家一起学习 BBC 撰稿人在报道世界大事时常用到的单词和短语。

美国的医生们说将来有可能通过人工方式来制造无数的卵子来帮助不孕妇女。研究人员发现当他们从妇女的卵巢里提取卵子干细胞时，这些卵子会自动生成新的卵。以下是BBC卫生事务记者 James Gallagher的报道:

A long-held theory is that women are born with all the eggs they will ever have. Researchers say they have shattered that idea by finding the stem cells which produce new eggs. Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital used unique proteins on the surface of stem cells to fish them out of ovarian tissue.

The study, in Nature Medicine, showed that growing these cells in the laboratory resulted in new eggs being produced spontaneously. Legal and ethical rules limit research on human eggs, but the same techniques repeated on mice showed the eggs could be fertilised and produce embryos.

The findings are a long way from being used in fertility clinics but the researchers said the cells had unprecedented potential to overcome infertility. British experts said the study rewrote the rule book and opened up exciting new possibilities for women.