胚胎研究以减少对体外受精的需要引起了伦理上的关注

胚胎研究以减少对体外受精的需要引起了伦理上的关注

Researchers have conducted a controversial study that involved paying dozens of young women at a hospital near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to get artificially inseminated so their embryos could be flushed out of their bodies and analyzed for research purposes.

研究人员进行了一项有争议的研究，在墨西哥巴亚尔塔港附近的一家医院里，研究人员付钱给数十名年轻女性，让她们接受人工授精，这样就可以从她们的体内取出胚胎进行分析研究。

The study showed that embryos created that way appear to be as healthy genetically as embryos created through standard in vitro fertilization. Physically, the embryos appear to, possibly, even be healthier, the study found.

这项研究表明，用这种方法培育出的胚胎在基因上与通过标准的体外受精培育出的胚胎一样健康。研究发现，在生理上，这种胚胎似乎甚至更健康。

The research, published online in the journal Human Reproduction, suggests the approach could offer couples a simpler, less expensive way for some couples to have healthy children than is currently available via IVF, the scientists and others say.

科学家和其他人说，这项发表在《人类生殖》(Human Reproduction)杂志网络版上的研究表明，这种方法可以为夫妇提供一种更简单、更便宜的方式，让一些夫妇获得健康的孩子，而不是目前通过试管受精获得。

"We have now a method that can produce embryos that are of good quality or better than in vitro fertilization," says Santiago Munne.

“我们现在有一种方法，可以生产出比体外受精质量更好或更好的胚胎，”生殖遗传学家圣地亚哥·芒恩说。

But others denounce the research as unethical.

但也有人谴责这项研究是不道德的。

"What this essentially does is use a woman's body as a petri dish," says Laurie Zoloth, a bioethicist at the University of Chicago. "And there's something about that that seems so profoundly disturbing."

芝加哥大学的生物伦理学家劳里·佐洛思说：“这实际上就是把女性的身体当作培养皿。”“其中有些事情似乎令人深感不安。”

The women received hormone injections to stimulate their ovaries to produce eggs, which is a standard way to obtain donor eggs that are to be used for women experiencing infertility problems.

这些妇女接受了激素注射，以刺激卵巢产生卵子，这是获得卵子的标准方法，供有不孕问题的妇女使用。

But instead of having eggs extracted via a needle from their ovaries and fertilized in the lab — a standard procedure during IVF — the women in the study were inseminated by sperm. Four to six days later, the women underwent a procedure known as "lavage," which involved using a specialized device to flush out any resulting embryos from the womb.

但是，这项研究中的女性并不是通过针从卵巢中取出卵子并在实验室受精——这是试管受精的标准程序——而是通过精子受精。4到6天后，这些妇女接受了一项称为“冲洗”的程序，即使用一种专门的设备将子宫内的胚胎冲洗出来。

The researchers then analyzed the embryos, comparing them to embryos produced by 20 of the women who also underwent standard IVF. Embryos produced by both methods looked similar genetically, while those created using the lavage method looked slightly healthier physically, the researchers reported.

然后，研究人员分析了这些胚胎，并将它们与20名同样接受了标准试管受精的妇女的胚胎进行了比较。研究人员报告说，这两种方法产生的胚胎在基因上看起来很相似，而用“冲洗法”产生的胚胎在生理上看起来稍微健康一些。

The women were paid about $1.400. the equivalent of more than two month's average wages in the area, raising questions about what motivated them to volunteer, Zoloth says.

佐洛思说，这些妇女的报酬大约是1400美元，相当于该地区两个月的平均工资，这让人不禁要问是什么促使她们去做志愿者。

The women also had to get injections of powerful hormones to stimulate their ovaries, which can pose some risk. In addition, some women underwent surgical or chemical abortions afterward, when tests indicated some of the embryos might not have been successfully removed.

这些女性还必须注射强效激素来刺激卵巢，这可能会带来一些风险。此外，一些妇女随后进行了手术或化学流产，因为试验表明一些胚胎可能没有被成功摘除。

"I think this research was unethical," Zoloth says.

“我认为这项研究是不道德的，” 佐洛思说。

Munne defends the research, noting that it was reviewed extensively and approved by the Ministry of Health of the State of Nayarit, in Mexico, and the Western Institutional Review Board in the United States. The women were fully informed of any potential risks, Munne says.

芒恩为这项研究辩护，指出它经过了广泛的审查，并得到了墨西哥纳亚里特州卫生部和美国西方机构审查委员会的批准。芒恩说，这些妇女完全了解任何潜在的风险。

"We passed all the ethical committees and all the ethical checks and balances," he says.

“我们通过了所有的道德委员会和所有的道德制衡，”他说。

The primary purpose of the study was to try to find a way to help couples who carry the gene for certain inherited diseases, such as beta thalassemia or cystic fibrosis, have healthy babies, Munne says. Currently, the reason such couples create embryos through standard IVF is so the embryos can be tested in the lab, and only those found to be healthy need be implanted, Munne says.

芒恩说，这项研究的主要目的是试图找到一种方法来帮助携带某些遗传疾病(如地中海贫血或囊性纤维化)基因的夫妇生下健康的孩子。目前，这样的夫妇通过标准的试管婴儿技术制造胚胎的原因是，胚胎可以在实验室进行测试，只有那些健康的才需要植入，芒恩说。