Department of Neurobiology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
J Physiol. 2013 Jul 1;591(13):3125-31. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2012.247619. Epub 2013 Jan 28.
Glutamatergic pathways are a major information-carrying and -processing network of inputs in the brain. There is considerable evidence suggesting that glutamatergic pathways do not represent a homogeneous group and that they can be segregated into at least two broad categories. Class 1 glutamatergic inputs, which are suggested to be the main information carriers, are characterized by a number of unique synaptic and anatomical features, such as the large synaptic boutons with which they often terminate. On the other hand, Class 2 inputs, which are thought to play a modulatory role, are associated, amongst other features, with exclusively small terminal boutons. Here we summarize and briefly discuss these two classes of glutamatergic input and how their unique features, including their terminal bouton size and anatomy, are related to their suggested function.
谷氨酸能通路是大脑中输入的主要信息传递和处理网络。有相当多的证据表明，谷氨酸能通路并不代表一个同质的群体，它们可以至少分为两类。第 1 类谷氨酸能输入被认为是主要的信息载体，其特征是具有许多独特的突触和解剖学特征，例如它们经常终止的大突触小球。另一方面，第 2 类输入被认为起着调节作用，与其他特征一起，与特有的小终末小球有关。在这里，我们总结并简要讨论了这两类谷氨酸能输入，以及它们独特的特征，包括终末小球的大小和解剖结构，与其功能有关。
