SYMPOSIUM: Nitric Oxide in the Invertebrates: Comparative Physiology and Diverse Functions to be held at the SICB meeting in Atlanta, Georgia January 4-8, 2000

直到大约15年前，人们还只知道一氧化氮是一种环境污染物。20世纪80年代初，S的研究人员发现，这种小分子也作为神经递质活跃在动物神经系统中。神经递质通常是由激活的神经细胞或神经元释放的小分子，使其能够与其他神经元进行交流。大多数神经递质储存在小泡中，当神经元受到电刺激时，它们会在短时间内释放。释放后，这些分子通过一个狭窄的突触缝隙扩散，并与其目标细胞上的表面受体相互作用。相反，一氧化氮在其正常的气体状态下被释放。与典型的神经递质不同，它是根据需要通过酶作用制造的，可以在细胞和组织中扩散，与细胞内的生化途径相互作用。在过去的15年里，大量的研究表明，这种小分子在成体和发育中的生物体的功能中发挥着重要作用。例如，一氧化氮参与控制性行为和攻击性行为，参与记忆的产生，参与免疫系统的抗微生物效应，以及嗅觉刺激的感知。越来越多的研究人员研究一氧化氮对脊椎动物的作用，这一点从国内和国际重大科学会议上关于这一主题的论文数量不断增加就可见一斑。一小群研究无脊椎动物的科学家已经开始认识到，这种分子在整个动物界扮演着类似的角色，可能是一种进化上古老的信号分子。这次研讨会将在综合与比较生物学学会(SICB)2000年1月的会议上举行，聚集了研究广泛无脊椎动物生物体的研究人员。这些科学家中的许多人在一氧化氮的功能方面取得了开创性的发现，并将向一群科学家展示他们的工作，对他们来说，基础科学及其比较方面是共同感兴趣的。研讨会和SICB会议向所有感兴趣的与会者开放，特别是该学会欢迎研究生和博士后研究人员。研讨会的演讲者将涵盖广泛的一氧化氮研究--从细菌中的信号到昆虫神经功能的计算机建模。PIS演讲者的经验范围从博士后到知名的知名研究人员，但所有人都将提出处于各自领域前沿的发现。在这次会议上交换的信息将作为论文在即将出版的一期《美国动物学家》杂志上进一步传播。

Until about 15 years ago, nitric oxide was known only as an environmental pollutant. In the early 1980's, researchers discovered that this small molecule was also active in animal nervous systems as a neurotransmitter. Neurotransmitters are typically small molecules that are released by an activated nerve cell, or neuron, allowing it to communicate with other neurons. Most neurotransmitters are stored within vesicles and released for short periods of time when a neuron is electrically excited. Upon release, these molecules diffuse across a narrow synaptic cleft and interacting with surface receptors on their target cells. In contrast, nitric oxide is released in its normal gaseous state. Unlike typical neurotransmitters, it is made enzymatically upon demand, and can diffuse through cells and tissues to interact with intracellular biochemical pathways. In the last 15 years, numerous studies have indicated that this small molecule plays important roles in the functions of adult and developing organisms. For example, nitric oxide is involved in the control of sexual and aggressive behavior, in the production of memories, in the anti-microbial effects of the immune system, and the perception of olfactory stimuli. The actions of nitric oxide on vertebrates are studied by growing numbers of researchers, as evinced by the increasing numbers of papers on this subject at major national and international scientific meetings. A somewhat smaller group of scientists working on invertebrates have begun to understand that this molecule plays similar roles throughout the animal kingdom and may be an evolutionarily ancient signaling molecule. This symposium, to be held at the January 2000 meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB), brings together researchers who study a broad array of invertebrate organisms. Many of these scientists have made seminal discoveries about the functions of nitric oxide and will be presenting their work to a group of scientists for whom basic science and its comparative aspects are a common interest. The symposium and SICB meeting are open to all interested attendees and in particular, this society welcomes graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. The symposium speakers will cover a broad range of nitric oxide studies - from signaling in bacteria through computational modeling of neural functions in insects. The PIs speakers range in experience from post-doctoral fellow to well known, established researchers, but all will present findings that are at the forefront of their respective fields. Information exchanged at this meeting will be further disseminated as papers in an upcoming issue of the journal American Zoologist.