猛起會頭暈，到底是什么機理？

You might not realize it, but every time you stand up, your body is working behind the scenes to stop you from fainting.

你或許毫無所覺，但每當你站起來的時候，你的身體都要承受不小的負擔;那些在后臺默默運行的器官/組織/系統(tǒng)為了讓我們?nèi)祟愒谕瓿勺詈唵?、最基本的動作時，不至于當場昏厥，而費心勞力

Due to the sudden drop in blood pressure, special neurons called baroreceptors swing into action to compensate – and scientists just figured out more about how they operate.

由于血壓突然下降，被稱為壓力感受器的特殊神經(jīng)元開始行動，激活血壓補償程序。——科學(xué)家們也是直到最近才大致上搞清楚它們的功能。

Considering the details of baroreceptors have puzzled researchers for nearly 100 years, this is quite an achievement.

考慮到生物體內(nèi)壓力感受器的機理細節(jié)讓研究人員困惑了將近100年，所以這是一項相當了不起的成就。

Now the team from the Scripps Research Institute has pinpointed two proteins that sense blood pressure and control the baroreceptor response.

現(xiàn)在，斯克里普斯研究所的團隊已經(jīng)確定了兩種能夠感知血壓變化并控制壓力感受器反應(yīng)的蛋白質(zhì)。

Once that happens, your body is told to increase its heart rate, pushing more blood to your brain to compensate, and ensuring you don't collapse just because you fancied getting up from the sofa to pick out something from the fridge.

一旦出現(xiàn)血壓降低，你的身體將接到增加心率的指令，將更多的血液泵到大腦以應(yīng)對腦供血不足，并確保你不會僅僅因為想去一趟洗手間就昏倒在地。

"Our motivation for this study was rooted in basic science, yet these findings could have major translational implications by improving our understanding of human health," says microbiologist Ardem Patapoutian from the the Scripps Research Institute.

“這項研究的動機植根于發(fā)展基礎(chǔ)科學(xué)理論，但這些研究結(jié)果可能提高我們對人類健康的理解，所以具有重大的實際轉(zhuǎn)化意義。”斯克里普斯研究所的微生物學(xué)家Ardem Patapoutian說。

The two proteins in question, PIEZO1 and PIEZO2, were first discovered several years ago by Patapoutian. Since then, studies have shown these two proteins do a lot of useful work around the body.

上面提及的兩種蛋白質(zhì)PIEZO1和PIEZO2幾年前由Patapoutian首次發(fā)現(xiàn)。從那以后，研究表明它們在我們的身體里做了很多有用的工作。

Now we know that includes playing a part in the baroreceptor reflex (baroreflex).

現(xiàn)在我們知道還包括參與壓力感受器的反射機制。

In experiments with mice, those that were denied PIEZO proteins showed greater risk of hypertension and more variability in their blood pressure.

在對小鼠的實驗中，那些(借助遺傳工程誘導(dǎo)缺陷)不產(chǎn)生PIEZO蛋白的白鼠顯示出更高水平的高血壓風險和更高的血壓變異性。

When the PIEZO proteins were introduced in mice using optogenetics, however, blood pressure and heart rate were increased, suggesting the baroreflex kicking into action. It seems that both PIEZO1 and PIEZO2 are needed for the baroreceptors to work.

然而，當使用光遺傳學(xué)技術(shù)將PIEZO蛋白質(zhì)引入小鼠體內(nèi)時，血壓和心率增加，表明壓力反射開始發(fā)揮作用。似乎壓力感受器需要PIEZO1和PIEZO2才能正常工作。

It's not quite a closed case yet, the researchers note, because some as-yet-undiscovered mechanism could be at work behind the scenes, and these tests were only carried out on mice.

研究人員指出，這種解釋還不是完備的，因為可能存在某些尚未被發(fā)現(xiàn)的機制參與其中，而實驗本身也只是在老鼠身上進行。

However, it does match what scientists have observed in humans where the baroreflex isn't working like it should.

然而，它確實與科學(xué)家在人身上所觀察到的現(xiàn)象非常相似。

Now that the functioning of the baroreceptors is becoming clearer, it might lead to better insights into ways to keep our bodies healthy – something blood pressure regulation is a crucial part of.

現(xiàn)在壓力感受器的功能越來越清晰，它可能是保持身體健康的一條線索——血壓調(diào)節(jié)是健康的關(guān)鍵部分。

If your blood pressure gets too low, you can easily feel faint, which is what the baroreflex combats.Too high, and you run the risk of that stress leading to a heart attack, a stroke, or heart failure – here are some ways, backed by science, to stop that from happening.

如果你的血壓太低，你就很容易感到暈眩;如果血壓過高，將提高心臟病、中風或心力衰竭的風險——以科學(xué)為后盾，我們將找到合適的方法，避免出現(xiàn)上面的狀況。

Hypertension that has previously been unresponsive to drug treatment could be targeted through the PIEZO proteins, for example.

例如，先前對藥物治療無反應(yīng)的高血壓可通過PIEZO蛋白靶向。

Further studies might also look at how these proteins are affected by changes in our genetics.

進一步的研究也可能會探索這些蛋白質(zhì)如何受到遺傳突變的影響。

"Knowing the identity of the sensors for blood pressure control gives us an idea of how to develop better therapies to treat patients who suffer from drug-resistant hypertension, or any other problems with blood pressure control," says one of the team, Kara Marshall.

研究團隊成員Kara Marshall：“搞清楚控制血壓的傳感器的關(guān)鍵機制讓我們有可能開發(fā)出更好的臨床手段來治療患有耐藥性高血壓的患者，或針對任何血壓控制的問題。”

The research has been published in Science.

該研究發(fā)表在Science上。