Department of Philosophy, University of California, San Diego; La Jolla, CA, 92093-0119, USA.
Hist Philos Life Sci. 2023 Oct 25;45(4):37. doi: 10.1007/s40656-023-00591-6.
The neuron doctrine, according to which nerves consist of discontinuous neurons, presented investigators with the challenge of determining what activities occurred between them or between them and muscles. One group of researchers, dubbed the sparks, viewed the electrical current in one neuron as inducing a current in the next neuron or in muscles. For them there was no gap between the activities of neurons or neurons and muscles that required filling with a new type of activity. A competing group, the soups, came to argue for chemicals, subsequently referred to neurotransmitters, as carrying out the activities between neurons or between neurons and muscles. But even for them the conclusion that chemicals performed this activity was only arrived over time. I examine the prolonged period in which proponents of chemical transmission developed their account and challenged the sparks. My goal is to illuminate the epistemic processes that led to the discovery of a new scientific phenomenon-chemical transmission between neurons.
神经元学说认为，神经由不连续的神经元组成，这给研究人员带来了挑战，需要确定它们之间或它们与肌肉之间发生了什么活动。一群被称为“火花”的研究人员认为，一个神经元中的电流会在下一个神经元或肌肉中引起电流。对他们来说，神经元或神经元与肌肉之间的活动之间没有需要新的活动来填补的间隙。另一个与之竞争的团体，“汤团”，则认为化学物质（随后被称为神经递质）在神经元之间或神经元与肌肉之间执行这些活动。但即使对他们来说，化学物质执行这种活动的结论也是随着时间的推移才得出的。我考察了化学传递的支持者发展他们的观点并挑战“火花”的这段漫长时期。我的目标是阐明导致发现新的科学现象——神经元之间的化学传递的认知过程。
