Single channel recording from small mammalian presynaptic nerve terminals.

人脑由神经细胞组成，这些神经细胞通过发送和接收化学信号相互通信，这种信号被称为神经递质。这种交流方式受到一组称为离子通道的蛋白质的严格控制。这些离子通道蛋白的活性决定了化学信号何时发出。因此，如果我们要了解人脑中的化学信号，我们必须了解离子通道是如何控制该信号的。尽管有一些技术可以让我们测量离子通道蛋白的活性，但在大多数情况下，它们不能直接应用于化学信号最重要的区域：突触。突触是一个很小的区域(直径约为百万分之一米)，具有在神经细胞之间发送和接收化学信号的特殊功能。我们无法测量大多数突触的离子通道活动的原因很简单，因为它们太小了。然而，通过应用纳米技术中使用的方法，我们在这一领域取得了重大突破。纳米技术是一门研究大约百万分之一米大小的东西的科学。通过应用纳米技术采用的方法，我们第一次证明了记录突触上离子通道蛋白的活动是可能的，从而从根本上提高了我们对大脑中化学信号的理解。这项技术最终将对研究大脑健康和疾病的研究人员产生广泛的影响。因此，这项提议寻求资金来改进我们的普遍使用的方法，并开始测量控制大脑中化学信号的离子通道活动阵列的巨大任务。

The human brain is composed of nerve cells that communicate with each other by sending and receiving chemical signals, called neurotransmitters. This form of communication is tightly controlled by a set of proteins called ion channels. The activity of these ion channel proteins determines when chemical signals are sent. Thus, if we are to understand chemical signalling in the human brain we must understand how ion channels control that signalling. Although there are technologies that allow us to measure the activity of ion channel proteins, in most cases they cannot be applied directly at the most important area for chemical signalling: the synapse. The synapse is a tiny area (about one millionth of a metre across) which has the special function of sending and receiving chemical signals between nerve cells. The reason we cannot measure ion channel activity at most synapses is simply because they are too small. However, we have made a major breakthrough in this area by applying methods used in nanotechnology (the science concerned with things that are about one thousand millionth of a metre in size). By applying methods adopted from nanotechnology we have been able to show that for the first time it is possible to record the activity of ion channel proteins at synapses and thus to radically improve our understanding of chemical signalling in the brain. This technology will eventually have extensive implications for researchers studying the brain in both health and disease. This proposal thus seeks funding to refine our methods for general use and to begin the enormous task of measuring the array of ion channel activity that controls chemical signalling in the brain.