时差N小时:肉毒杆菌毒素

In our beauty conscious culture, people will goto great lengths to improve their appearance.Liposuction, tummy tucks, silicone implants--it's allbeen done. But surely we wouldn't resort toinjecting ourselves with a toxic substance thatcauses botulism, would we? Of course we would, inthe form of Botox injections, widely advertised as aquick, easy way to remove wrinkles and crow's-feet.

在这个崇尚美丽的文化里，人们会竭尽全力改善自己的外表。抽脂，紧腹手术，硅胶填充，应有尽有。但想必我们不会对自己射入一些会引起肉毒中毒的有毒物质，会吗?当然我们会注射肉毒杆菌毒素，它被大肆宣传为一种快速、简单除皱和眼角鱼尾纹的方法。

Botox is the marketing name given to a neurotoxin called botulinum toxin A. This toxincomes from the bacterium that produces the poisons responsible for causing botulism.Botulism is a form of food poisoning, the most serious symptom of which isparalysis.Botulism-related toxins attach to nerve endings, where they block their ability totrigger muscle contractions. If muscles can't contract, they can't move, resulting in paralysis.

肉毒杆菌素只是市场对肉毒杆菌毒素A这种神经毒素的一个叫法。这种毒素来自细菌，它们可产生大量能引起肉毒中毒的毒素。肉毒中毒是食物中毒的一种，它最严重的临床表症就是身体瘫痪。肉毒毒素牵动神经末梢，阻止肌肉收缩，肌肉一旦不能收缩，肢体则无法运动，这样就导致瘫痪。

So why would anyone risk injecting Botox into his or her body? There are legitimate medicalreasons, such as treating spasms and involuntary muscle contractions.Although the paralyzingeffects are not permanent, they can last up to eight months.And as long as Botox is injecteddirectly into a particular muscle group, there's little chance that it will spread to other parts ofthe body.

那么为什么人们还要冒险往体内注入肉毒杆菌呢?其中就有诸如治疗痉挛和无意识性肌肉收缩等合法医疗因素。虽然麻痹的作用不是永久性的，但也能持续八个月。只要肉毒杆菌毒素直接注入到特定的肌肉组织，就不太可能扩散至身体的其它区域。

As a beauty treatment, Botox does what it's meant to do: paralyze muscles. For example,injecting botox into muscle groups near the eyes will temporarily paralyze those muscles,keeping them from scrunching up. Consequently the wrinkles, or crow's feet, they causetemporarily disappear. In time, however, wrinkles reappear.Not even Botox canpermanently reverse the march of time.

对于整容来说，肉毒杆菌确实做了它该做的：麻痹肌肉。例如，在眼睛附近的肌肉组织注射肉毒杆菌毒素，会暂时性的麻痹那些肌肉，使它们不皱起。结果就是皱纹或眼角鱼尾纹会暂时性的消失。然而，时间一长皱纹会重新出现。即使是肉毒杆菌也不能让时光永远倒流。