Functional roles of electrical synapses formed by neuronal gap junctions

缝隙连接是由连接蛋白形成的细胞间通讯通道的聚集体，在整个身体的细胞中具有重要的作用。当神经元之间发生缝隙连接时，它们会产生电突触，介导神经元之间的直接电通信。Nagy的团队和其他人揭示了电突触在哺乳动物大脑和脊髓的许多区域的普遍存在和重要性。他的研究计划集中在两个长期目标上：i)破译电子突触的结构和调节蛋白成分；ii)了解这些突触在神经回路中的功能作用。关于后一个目标的拟议工作旨在提供对三个不同神经系统中电突触的发生和要求的基本了解，每个神经系统都控制着根本上重要的生理过程。他们假设，电突触赋予了新的功能特性，并贡献了基本的同步机制，这些机制是这些系统中每个系统的神经元活动和这些系统所辅助的功能的关键。

Gap junctions are aggregates of intercellular communication channels formed by connexin proteins that have essential roles in cells throughout the body. When gap junctions occur between neurons, they create electrical synapses that mediate direct electrical communication between neurons. Nagy’s group and others have revealed both the prevalence and importance of electrical synapses in many regions of mammalian brain and spinal cord. His research program is centered on two long-term objectives: i) deciphering the structural and regulatory protein components of electrical synapses; and ii) gaining knowledge of the functional roles of these synapses in neuronal circuitry. Proposed work on the latter objective aims to provide basic understanding of the occurrence and requirements for electrical synapses in three different neuronal systems each of which govern fundamentally important physiological processes. They hypothesize that electrical synapses confer novel functional properties and contribute essential synchronizing mechanisms that are key to neuronal activity in each of these systems and the functions these systems subserve.