Department of Philosophy, Center for Chronobiology, and Interdisciplinary Program in Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093-0119, USA.
Pharmacopsychiatry. 2013 May;46 Suppl 1:S10-21. doi: 10.1055/s-0033-1337922. Epub 2013 Apr 18.
Whereas the challenge for traditional mechanistic science was to identify parts and operations, the current challenge in many fields of biology is to understand how the many parts of mechanisms are organized in networks and their operations coordinated across these networks. This paper explores how tools from graph theory are enabling analysis of organization at both macro- and micro-levels. In applying these approaches to brain regions, systems neuroscientists are identifying both small-world organization with hubs at the macro-scale and frequently occurring subgraphs that link specific brain regions at a more micro-scale. This has lead to the discovery of networks in which activity in multiple brain regions exhibits coherent oscillations and demonstrations that these networks are disrupted in various mental disorders.
虽然传统机械科学的挑战在于识别部件和操作，但当前许多生物学领域的挑战是了解机制的许多部件如何在网络中组织以及它们在这些网络中的操作如何协调。本文探讨了图论工具如何使对宏观和微观层面的组织进行分析成为可能。在将这些方法应用于大脑区域时，系统神经科学家不仅在宏观尺度上发现了具有枢纽的小世界组织，而且还发现了在更微观尺度上连接特定大脑区域的常见子图。这导致发现了多个大脑区域活动表现出相干振荡的网络，并证明这些网络在各种精神障碍中被破坏。
