分娩、监禁、疾病：人类牙齿上有生命事件的记录

分娩、监禁、疾病：人类牙齿上有生命事件的记录

Scientists have found that our teeth can provide a record of human life, much like the rings of a tree.

科学家发现，我们的牙齿可以记录人类的生活，就像树木的年轮一样。

The discovery that our teeth are an "archive of life" could allow us to better understand menopause, birth patterns and child-rearing among early humans, according to a new paper by a team of researchers from New York University.

根据纽约大学的一组研究人员的一篇新论文，我们发现牙齿是“生命的档案”，这一发现可以让我们更好地了解早期人类的更年期、生育模式和育儿方式。

"Our results make clear that the skeleton is not a static organ, but rather a dynamic one," study lead author Paola Cerrito, a doctoral candidate in NYU's Department of Anthropology and College of Dentistry, said in a press release.

“我们的研究结果表明，骨骼不是一个静态的器官，而是一个动态的器官，”该研究的主要作者、纽约大学人类学系和牙科学院的博士生保拉·塞里托在新闻发布会上说。

Cerrito told CNN that the team were pleasantly surprised by the implications of their research, which they had originally designed as a way of investigating the reproductive patterns of extinct human ancestors such as Homo erectus.

塞里托告诉CNN，这个团队对他们的研究结果感到惊喜，他们最初设计这个研究是为了研究已经灭绝的人类祖先，比如直立人的生殖模式。

"We weren't expecting these results," she said.

“我们没想到会有这样的结果，”她说。

The so-called biological archive in our teeth shows the effect of reproduction, systemic illnesses and imprisonment on our bodies, say the study's authors, who focused their research on cementum, a kind of dental tissue that covers the roots of our teeth.

这项研究的作者说，我们牙齿中所谓的生物档案显示了生殖、系统性疾病和监禁对我们身体的影响。他们的研究重点是牙骨质，一种覆盖我们牙齿根部的牙齿组织。

From the moment a tooth emerges from the gum, cementum starts to form annual layers, similar to a tree's rings.

从牙齿从牙龈中长出来的那一刻起，牙骨质就开始形成一年生的层，类似于树木的年轮。

"The discovery that intimate details of a person's life are recorded in this little-studied tissue, promises to bring cementum straight into the center of many current debates concerning the evolution of human life history," said co-author Timothy Bromage, a professor of at NYU's College of Dentistry.

纽约大学牙科学院教授蒂莫西·布罗马奇是该研究的共同作者之一，他说:“一个人的生活的私密细节被记录在这个很少被研究的组织中，这一发现有望将牙骨质直接带入当前关于人类生活史进化的许多争论的中心。”

For example, the paper shows that there will be permanent changes in the microstructure of cementum in someone who has suffered systemic illness, and this can be accurately dated.

例如，这篇论文表明，患有系统性疾病的人的牙骨质的微观结构会发生永久性的变化，这可以被准确地确定年代。

Cerrito told CNN that the method could be used in archeology, for example to piece together information on human remains from ancient civilizations, and forensic archeology, by helping investigators to find out more details about unidentified human remains, such as those found on the US-Mexico border.

塞里托告诉CNN，这种方法可以用于考古学，例如拼凑来自古代文明的人类遗骸信息，以及法医考古学，帮助调查人员找到更多关于不明身份的人类遗骸的细节，比如在美墨边境发现的那些。

The team looked at almost 50 human teeth from people with known medical history and lifestyle data, using imaging techniques to reveal cementum bands.

研究小组观察了近50颗人类牙齿，这些牙齿来自已知病史和生活方式的人，他们使用成像技术来揭示牙骨质带。

They then linked these bands to life stages, and discovered connections between life events and tooth formation.

然后他们将这些带与生命阶段联系起来，发现生命事件和牙齿形成之间的联系。

"Just like tree rings, we can look at 'tooth rings': continuously growing layers of tissue on the dental root surface," Cerrito said in the press release.

塞里托在新闻发布会上说:“就像树的年轮一样，我们可以看到‘牙齿年轮’:在牙根表面不断生长的组织层。”

"These rings are a faithful archive of an individual's physiological experiences and stressors from pregnancies and illnesses to incarcerations and menopause that all leave a distinctive permanent mark."

“这些“年轮”忠实地记录了一个人的生理经历和压力，从怀孕、生病、监禁到更年期，所有这些都留下了独特的永久印记。”

The full paper appears in the journal Scientific Reports.

全文发表在《科学报告》杂志上。

Next, Cerrito and the team are working on how to differentiate life events by studying changes in levels of specific minerals, such as zinc and copper.

接下来，塞里托和他的团队正在研究如何通过研究锌和铜等特定矿物质含量的变化来区分生命事件。

This will provide an even more detailed picture of the life of a tooth.

这将提供一幅关于牙齿寿命的更详细的图片。

The researchers are also working with high-resolution CT scans to develop a non-destructive method of studying cementum.

研究人员还利用高分辨率CT扫描，开发了一种非破坏性的研究牙骨质的方法。

This would allow them to study samples from Neanderthals and other creatures that, for conservation reasons, can't be physically cut.

这将使他们能够研究尼安德特人和其他生物的样本，出于保护的原因，这些生物不能被物理切割。