Cowan W M, Harter D H, Kandel E R
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815, USA.
Annu Rev Neurosci. 2000;23:343-91. doi: 10.1146/annurev.neuro.23.1.343.
One of the most significant developments in biology in the past half century was the emergence, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, of neuroscience as a distinct discipline. We review here factors that led to the convergence into a common discipline of the traditional fields of neurophysiology, neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, and behavior, and we emphasize the seminal roles played by David McKenzie Rioch, Francis O Schmitt, and especially Stephen W Kuffler in creating neuroscience as we now know it. The application of the techniques of molecular and cellular biology to the study of the nervous system has greatly accelerated our understanding of the mechanisms involved in neuronal signaling, neural development, and the function of the major sensory and motor systems of the brain. The elucidation of the underlying causes of most neurological and psychiatric disorders has proved to be more difficult; but striking progress is now being made in determining the genetic basis of such disorders as Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and a number of ion channel and mitochondrial disorders, and a significant start has been made in identifying genetic factors in the etiology of such disorders as manic depressive illness and schizophrenia. These developments presage the emergence in the coming decades of a new nosology, certainly in neurology and perhaps also in psychiatry, based not on symptomatology but on the dysfunction of specific genes, molecules, neuronal organelles and particular neural systems.
在过去半个世纪里，生物学领域最重要的发展之一是在20世纪50年代末和60年代初，神经科学作为一门独特学科的出现。我们在此回顾促使神经生理学、神经解剖学、神经化学和行为学等传统领域融合为一门共同学科的诸多因素，并着重强调大卫·麦肯齐·里奥克、弗朗西斯·O·施密特，尤其是斯蒂芬·W·库夫勒在创建我们如今所知的神经科学过程中所发挥的开创性作用。分子和细胞生物学技术在神经系统研究中的应用极大地加速了我们对神经元信号传导、神经发育以及大脑主要感觉和运动系统功能所涉及机制的理解。事实证明，阐明大多数神经和精神疾病的根本原因更为困难；但目前在确定诸如阿尔茨海默病、肌萎缩侧索硬化症、帕金森病以及一些离子通道和线粒体疾病等病症的遗传基础方面正取得显著进展，并且在确定躁郁症和精神分裂症等病症病因中的遗传因素方面也已迈出重要的第一步。这些发展预示着在未来几十年里，一种新的疾病分类学将会出现，肯定会出现在神经学领域，或许也会出现在精神病学领域，它将不再基于症状学，而是基于特定基因、分子、神经元细胞器和特定神经系统的功能障碍。
