科學家發明眼球創可貼 能癒合眼部傷口的隱形眼鏡大綱
Treating wounds on a part of the body as delicate as the eyeball isn't easy, but scientists have developed an innovative new approach: a therapeutic contact lens that can act as a bandage for damaged eyes.
要處理人體中像眼球這樣脆弱部位上的傷口絕非易事，不過科學家已研發出一種創新療法：治療用隱形眼鏡，它對受傷的眼睛來說相當於創可貼。This is no ordinary contact lens, because it's made up of donor cells left over from regular corneal transplants.
這不是普通的隱形眼鏡，因爲它由常規角膜移植遺留下來的供體細胞組成。These special limbal mesenchymal stromal cells help to encourage the injured eye to repair its wounds itself.
這些特殊的角膜緣間充質間質細胞有助於刺激受創眼部進行自我修復。
According to the researchers, a contact lens bandage could be in place within hours of a patient arriving at hospital with eye damage.
研究人員稱，眼部受傷的患者到醫院數小時內，就能用上隱形眼鏡創可貼。
It's likely to be cheaper and easier to apply than current treatments too.
這種方法可能比現有療法更便宜、更易應用。"Based upon preliminary data we believe that the donor cells release a range of wound-healing factors that encourage repair of the eye's surface," says one of the researchers, Damien Harkin from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Australia.
研究人員之一、來自澳大利亞昆士蘭科技大學的達米安·哈金表示：“根據初步數據，我們認爲供體細胞釋放出一系列傷口癒合因子，可以促進眼睛表面自我修復。”"Our therapy could provide welcome relief for patients suffering from chronic conditions such as corneal ulcers and persistent surface defects that haven't responded to conventional therapies."
“我們的療法可以緩解患有慢性疾病的患者的症狀，例如角膜潰瘍和持續表面缺陷，傳統療法對這些患者收效甚微。”These bandage contact lenses will need to go through an extensive set of clinical trials before they get approved, and the researchers say it could take several years for them to become available to general public.
這些創可貼隱形眼鏡在獲得批准前還需進行大量臨牀試驗，研究人員表示，可能還需要好幾年的時間公衆才能用上這種“眼球創可貼”。
