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A doughnut created in a lab and made of silk on the outside and collagen gel where the jelly ought to be can mimic a basic function of brain tissue, scientists have found. 科学家发现，实验室里制造的一个类似甜甜圈的东西，可以模仿脑组织的一项基本功能。这个圆圈的环状部分由丝材料制成，圈里面填的是胶原蛋白凝胶。 Bioengineers produced a kind of rudimentary gray matter and white matter in a dish, along with rat neurons that signaled one another across the doughnut’s center. When the scientists dropped weights on the material to simulate traumatic injury, the neurons in the three-dimensional brain model emitted chemical and electrical signals similar to those in the brains of injured animals. 生物工程师在培养皿中制成了相当于原始灰质和白质的材料，其中用了大鼠神经元，这些神经元能通过圆圈中间的物质相互交换信号。当科学家让重物掉到这个圆圈上，以模拟创伤性损伤时，这个三维大脑模型中的神经元释放出了化学信号和电信号，与受伤动物的大脑释放的信号类似。 It is the first time scientists have been able to so closely imitate brain function in the laboratory, experts said. If researchers can replicate it with human neurons and enhance it to reflect other neurological functions, it could be used for studying how disease, trauma and medical treatments affect the brain — without the expense and ethical challenges of clinical trials on people. | 
