该器官在生育期结束后仍持续产生影响。研究显示，它还在不断变化，“且变化相当动态”。
The organ continues to have an impact well past fertility. And it keeps changing, “quite dynamically,” research shows.
女性的卵巢在数十年生命周期中扮演核心角色：主导生育能力，并与从大脑、心脏到骨骼、免疫系统等器官相互作用。因此，卵巢吸引了大量科学研究。
A woman’s ovaries bring center-stage energy for decades of her life: governing fertility and interacting with organs from the brain to the heart, from the skeleton to the immune system. Because of that, they have attracted scads of scientific research.
但在绝经期（约50岁）之后，卵巢长期以来不再受到关注。周三发表在《Aging Cell》（《衰老细胞》）期刊上的一项研究显示，卵巢即便在“退休岁月”里仍继续发挥重要作用，其功能并未减弱，依然可能影响身体其他部位。
But after menopause, around age 50, the spotlight on the ovary has historically gone dark. A study published Wednesday in the journal Aging Cell shows that an ovary continues to play an important role even in its retirement years, with functions that do not diminish and may still affect the rest of the body.
卵巢在每次月经周期中都会完全重塑自身，其内部的卵泡和卵子触发激素激增，进而影响身体的每个系统。当大多数女性年满50岁时，卵巢中的卵子已所剩无几，无法维持这种周期性变化，从而导致绝经，也让许多科学家失去了研究兴趣。
The ovary completely reshapes itself each menstrual cycle as the follicles and eggs it contains trigger a surge of hormones that impact every system of the body. By the time most women turn 50, the ovaries are down to so few eggs that they cannot sustain this cycling, leading to menopause and prompting many scientists to lose interest.
邓肯及其同事通过分析50至75岁女性的28个健康卵巢，验证了这一观点。在测量组织中近6000种蛋白质的水平后，他们发现许多蛋白质随年份变化基本保持一致。他们还鉴定出一组蛋白质在较年轻卵巢中的产生量远高于最年长卵巢，以及另一组蛋白质的产生速率则低得多。
Duncan and her colleagues tested that proposition by analyzing 28 healthy ovaries taken from women between the ages of 50 and 75. After measuring levels of nearly 6,000 proteins found in the tissues, they saw that many proteins stay more or less consistent across the years. They also identified one set of proteins that was produced much more by the younger ovaries than the oldest ones, as well as a second group that was produced at much lower rates.
据邓肯表示，结果显示50多岁女性的卵巢与70多岁女性的卵巢存在显著差异。“这些卵巢看起来完全不同，我们几乎可以根据其分子特征判断卵巢的年龄，”她说。“它们实际上在变化，且变化相当动态。”研究团队还发现大量分子可能作为信号作用于其他器官，这为卵巢的全身性影响可能在绝经后持续存在提供了可能性。
The result was a striking distinction between the ovaries of women in their 50s versus those in their 70s, according to Duncan. “Those ovaries looked completely different, and we could almost age the ovaries based on their molecular signatures,” she said. “They’re actually changing, quite dynamically.”The team also found plenty of molecules that may act as signals on other organs, opening up the possibility that the ovary’s full-body impacts may continue even after menopause.
尽管分析的卵巢均为健康状态，但晚年出现的一些变化与卵巢癌的迹象相似。邓肯和郑（Chung）都认为这不足为奇：由于卵巢在月经期间极为活跃，天然易发炎症——这种状况似乎有助于癌细胞生长。不过，鉴于一半确诊卵巢癌的女性年龄在 63 岁或以上，邓肯表示，希望对绝经后卵巢的进一步研究能帮助医生弄清老年人面临更高风险的原因。最重要的是，这项研究凸显了绝经后卵巢值得重视。
And though the ovaries analyzed were healthy, some of the changes seen in later years paralleled signs of ovarian cancer. That is not necessarily surprising, Duncan and Chung agreed: Because of how active the ovary is during menstruation, it’s naturally prone to inflammation — a condition that seems to help cancer cells thrive. Yet given that half of the women diagnosed with ovarian cancer are 63 or older, Duncan said she hopes further research on postmenopausal ovaries can help doctors determine why older people face this higher risk. Above all, the study underscores why the postmenopausal ovary is worthy of attention.
“女性带着这个器官在体内多活三个[十年]，我们却完全不知道它在做什么，”邓肯说。“我们真该对一半人口负责，搞清到底发生了什么。”
“Women are living three [more] decades with this organ in their body, and we have no idea what it’s doing,” Duncan said. “We really owe it to half our population to understand what’s happening.”