新发现挑战神经元通讯经典学说.doc

Conventional Wisdom of How Neurons Operate Challenged: Axons Can Work in Reverse 新发现挑战神经元通讯经典学说译者：Docofsoul ScienceDaily (Feb. 19, 2011)— Neurons are complicated, but the basic functional conceptis that synapses transmit electrical signals to the dendrites and cell body (input), and axons carry signals away (output). In one of many surprise findings, Northwestern University scientists have discovered that axons can operate in reverse: they can send signals to the cell body, too.《每日科学》2011年2月19日报道——神经元很复杂，但传统理论认为神经元的基本工作原理是：突触将电信号传递给树突与细胞体（输入），轴突则携带信号离开（输出）。但在众多的令人惊讶的发现中，美国西北大学的科学家们发现了轴突也可以反向运作：向细胞体发送信号。 Computer-generated image representing connections between neurons. (Credit: iStockphoto/Guido Vrola) 电脑制作的代表神经元之间连接的图像（图片来源：iStockphoto/Guido Vrola) It also turns out axons can talk to each other. Before sending signals in reverse, axons can perform their own neural computations without any involvement from the cell body or dendrites. This is contrary to typical neuronal communication where an axon of one neuron is in contact with another neurons dendrite or cell body, not its axon. And, unlike the computations performed in dendrites, the computations occurring in axons are thousands of times slower, potentially creating a means for neurons to compute fast things in dendrites and slow things in axons.并且，轴突之间也可以互相对话。在反向发送信号前，轴突本身可进行神经计算而无需细胞体与树突的参与。这种现象显然与经典的神经元通讯理论相悖。因为在经典理论中，一个神经元的轴突应该与另一个神经元的树突或细胞体进行交流，而不是与其轴突相联系。同时，与树突上执行的计算不同，轴突上所出现的计算，其速度慢了几千倍，由此可能建立了一种运作方式：当神经元需要快速计算时，任务就交给树突来完成，慢速运算则由轴突处理。A deeper understanding of how a normal neuron works is critical to scientists who study neurological diseases, such as epilepsy, autism, Alzheimers disease and schizophrenia.对于正常神经元的工作原理的更深层次的理解对于研究神经系统疾病（诸如癫痫、自闭症与精神分裂症）的科学家而言至关重要。The findings are published in the February issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience.本发现已发表于二月份的《Nature Neuroscience》（《自然·神经科学》）杂志。We have discovered a number of things fundamental to how neurons work that are contrary to the