Once Thought To Support Neurons, Astrocytes Turn Out To Be in Charge

Waves of calcium, revealed by a fluorescent dye, ripple across a bed of astrocytes, showing that the cells actively signal.

荧光染料显示的钙波在星形胶质细胞床上荡漾，表明细胞正在发出积极的信号。

Warmer colors represent higher calcium concentration.

较暖的颜色代表较高的钙浓度。

The video was sped up from the original.

该视频比原始视频进行了加速。

Its resolution was enhanced using AI with the creator’s consent.

经创作者同意，其分辨率通过人工智能得到增强。

T he human brain is a vast network of billions of neurons.

人脑是一个由数十亿个神经元组成的庞大网络。

By exchanging signals to depress or excite each other, they generate patterns that ripple across the brain up to 1,000 times per second.

通过交换信号来抑制或兴奋彼此，它们会产生每秒在大脑中产生高达 1,000 次涟漪的模式。

For more than a century, that dizzyingly complex neuronal code was thought to be the sole arbiter of perception, thought, emotion, and behavior, as well as related health conditions.

一个多世纪以来，这种令人眼花缭乱的复杂神经元代码被认为是感知、思想、情感和行为以及相关健康状况的唯一仲裁者。

If you wanted to understand the brain, you turned to the study of neurons: neuroscience.

如果你想了解大脑，你就转向神经元的研究：神经科学。

But a recent body of work from several labs, published as a trio of papers in Science in 2025, provides the strongest evidence yet that a narrow focus on neurons is woefully insufficient for understanding how the brain works.

但几个实验室最近的一系列工作（将于 2025 年在《科学》杂志上发表三篇论文）提供了迄今为止最有力的证据，表明对神经元的狭隘关注不足以理解大脑的工作原理。

The experiments, in mice, zebra fish, and fruit flies, reveal that the large brain cells called astrocytes serve as supervisors.

在小鼠、斑马鱼和果蝇中进行的实验表明，称为星形胶质细胞的大型脑细胞起着监管者的作用。

Once viewed as mere support cells for neurons, astrocytes are now thought to help tune brain circuits and thereby control overall brain state or mood — say, our level of alertness, anxiousness, or apathy.

星形胶质细胞曾经被视为仅仅是神经元的支持细胞，现在被认为可以帮助调节大脑回路，从而控制整体大脑状态或情绪——例如，我们的警觉、焦虑或冷漠程度。

Once considered merely packing peanuts for the brain, new studies suggest that large brain cells called astrocytes supervise the circuits that control brain states like hopelessness, sleep, and hunger.

曾经被认为只是为大脑包装花生的新研究表明，称为星形胶质细胞的大型脑细胞负责监督控制大脑状态（如绝望、睡眠和饥饿）的回路。

Astrocytes, which outnumber neurons in many brain regions, have complex and varied shapes, and sometimes tendrils, that can envelop hundreds of thousands or millions of synapses, the junctions where neurons exchange molecular signals.

星形胶质细胞在许多大脑区域的数量超过了神经元，具有复杂多样的形状，有时还有卷须，可以包裹数十万或数百万个突触，即神经元交换分子信号的连接处。

This anatomical arrangement perfectly positions astrocytes to affect information flow, though whether or how they alter activity at synapses has long been controversial, in part because the mechanisms of potential interactions weren’t fully understood.

这种解剖学排列完美地定位了星形胶质细胞以影响信息流，尽管它们是否或如何改变突触的活动长期以来一直存在争议，部分原因是潜在相互作用的机制尚未完全了解。

In revealing how astrocytes temper synaptic conversations, the new studies make astrocytes’ influence impossible to ignore.

在揭示星形胶质细胞如何调节突触对话时，新研究使星形胶质细胞的影响不容忽视。

“We live in the age of connectomics, where everyone loves to say [that] if you understand the connections [between neurons], we can understand how the brain works.

“我们生活在连接组学时代，每个人都喜欢说，如果你了解（神经元之间的）连接，我们就能了解大脑的工作原理。

That’s not true,” said Marc Freeman , the director of the Vollum Institute, an independent neuroscience research center at Oregon Health and Science University, who led one of the new studies.

这不是真的，”俄勒冈健康与科学大学独立神经科学研究中心沃勒姆研究所所长马克·弗里曼说，他领导了其中一项新研究。

“You can get dramatic changes in firing patterns of neurons with zero changes in [neuronal] connectivity.”

“你可以获得神经元放电模式的巨大变化，而[神经元]连接的变化为零。”

Marc Freeman’s experiments on fruit fly astrocytes are leading the way in revealing how the cells can rapidly shift the brain’s state.

马克·弗里曼（Marc Freeman）对果蝇星形胶质细胞的实验在揭示细胞如何快速改变大脑状态方面处于领先地位。

Unfortunately, he said, 99% of neuroscientists don’t consider astrocytes in their studies.

不幸的是，他说，99% 的神经科学家在他们的研究中没有考虑星形胶质细胞。

Astrocytes do not engage in the rapid-fire signaling typical of neurons at synapses.

星形胶质细胞不参与突触神经元典型的快速信号传导。

Instead, they monitor and tune higher-level network activity, dialing it up or down to maintain or switch the brain’s overall state.

相反，它们监视和调整更高级别的网络活动，调高或调低网络活动以维持或切换大脑的整体状态。

This function, termed neuromodulation, may cause an animal’s brain to switch between dramatically different states, such as by gauging when an action is futile and prompting the animal to give up, one of the new papers shows.

一篇新论文显示，这种被称为神经调节的功能可能会导致动物的大脑在截然不同的状态之间切换，例如通过判断某个动作何时无效并促使动物放弃。

Neuromodulation is necessary for keeping the brain’s activity level in a functional range, preventing it from either flatlining or erupting in seizures.

神经调节对于将大脑的活动水平保持在功能范围内、防止其陷入停滞或癫痫发作是必要的。

“No neural circuit would work at all without continual fine-tuning by these things we call neuromodulators, [the molecules that mediate the adjustments],” said Stephen Smith , an emeritus professor of neuroscience at Stanford University who conducted pioneering experiments in astrocyte signaling in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was not involved in the new research.

斯坦福大学神经科学名誉教授史蒂芬·史密斯 (Stephen Smith) 表示：“如果没有这些我们称之为神经调节剂（介导调节的分子）的持续微调，任何神经回路都无法发挥作用。”史蒂芬·史密斯在 20 世纪 80 年代末和 90 年代初进行了星形胶质细胞信号传导方面的开创性实验，但没有参与这项新研究。

For many years, that fine-tuning was thought to be conducted by neurons themselves.

多年来，这种微调被认为是由神经元本身进行的。

While previous work has implicated astrocytes in some cellular signaling, the latest experiments use “advanced techniques to really pinpoint and satisfy beyond a doubt that astrocytes are having a key role in neuromodulation in the brain,” said Douglas Fields , an emeritus neuroscientist at the National Institutes of Health who was not involved in the new research.

虽然之前的研究表明星形胶质细胞参与了一些细胞信号传导，但最新的实验使用“先进的技术来真正查明并毫无疑问地证实星形胶质细胞在大脑的神经调节中发挥着关键作用，”美国国立卫生研究院的名誉神经科学家道格拉斯·菲尔兹（Douglas Fields）说，他没有参与这项新研究。

In that role, astrocytes could be major participants in sleep or psychiatric disorders that broadly disrupt the state of the brain.

在这一角色中，星形胶质细胞可能是睡眠或精神疾病的主要参与者，这些疾病广泛破坏了大脑的状态。

“We have to think about what this means for neuropsychiatric disease,” Freeman said.

“我们必须考虑这对神经精神疾病意味着什么，”弗里曼说。

Astrocytes are a type of glial cell , a class of non-neuronal nervous system cells that tile the brain, filling the space between neurons like packing peanuts.

星形胶质细胞是神经胶质细胞的一种，是一类非神经元神经系统细胞，它们铺满大脑，像包装花生一样填充神经元之间的空间。

Greek for “glue,” the name “glia” reflects the mid-18th-century idea that the cells’ purpose was simply to hold the brain together.

“胶质细胞”这个名字在希腊语中是“胶水”的意思，反映了 18 世纪中叶的想法，即细胞的目的只是将大脑粘在一起。

By the 1950s, researchers knew that astrocytes did more than that.

到了 20 世纪 50 年代，研究人员知道星形胶质细胞的作用远不止于此。

In experiments, the cells sucked up excess neurotransmitters, buffered potassium, and secreted substances that neurons require for energy.

在实验中，细胞吸收多余的神经递质，缓冲钾，并分泌神经元能量所需的物质。

Like cellular alchemists, astrocytes seemed to be monitoring and adjusting the broth of the brain, keeping conditions favorable for neurons.

就像细胞炼金术士一样，星形胶质细胞似乎在监测和调整大脑的液体，保持有利于神经元的条件。

But scientists considered them relatively passive regulators until the late 1980s, when Smith built a new microscope for his neuroscience lab at Yale University.

但科学家们一直认为它们是相对被动的调节器，直到 20 世纪 80 年代末，史密斯为他在耶鲁大学的神经科学实验室建造了一台新显微镜。

The neuroscientist Stephen Smith, pictured here with Banjo the Havanese dog, built a microscope in the late 1980s that prompted pioneering research into astrocyte signaling.

神经科学家斯蒂芬·史密斯（图中为哈瓦那犬班卓）在 20 世纪 80 年代末建造了一台显微镜，推动了星形胶质细胞信号传导的开创性研究。

Smith’s novel digital video fluorescence microscope was designed to take movies of neuronal activity using fluorescent light.

史密斯的新型数字视频荧光显微镜旨在使用荧光灯拍摄神经元活动的电影。

When a neuron fires, calcium rushes into the cell.

当神经元放电时，钙就会涌入细胞。

So the researchers put fluorescent sensors into brain cells that glowed when they encountered calcium.

因此，研究人员将荧光传感器放入脑细胞中，当它们遇到钙时就会发光。

The microscope could detect the light as it brightened and dimmed over space and time, revealing the cells’ firing patterns.

显微镜可以检测光线随空间和时间的变亮和变暗，从而揭示细胞的放电模式。

“We had probably the most advanced, sensitive, coolest setup going,” Smith said.

“我们可能拥有最先进、最灵敏、最酷的设置，”史密斯说。

One day in 1989, Smith’s graduate student Steve Finkbeiner (now a neurologist at the nonprofit Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco) was using the microscope to explore the potentially toxic effects of the neurotransmitter glutamate, the molecule most neurons in the brain use to communicate.

1989 年的一天，史密斯的研究生史蒂夫·芬克贝纳（Steve Finkbeiner，现为旧金山非营利性格拉德斯通研究所的神经学家）正在使用显微镜探索神经递质谷氨酸的潜在毒性作用，神经递质谷氨酸是大脑中大多数神经元用来进行交流的分子。

Finkbeiner was not interested in astrocytes, but because they help keep neurons alive, he put them in his cell culture.

芬克贝纳对星形胶质细胞不感兴趣，但因为它们有助于保持神经元的存活，所以他将它们放入细胞培养物中。

Then he added glutamate.

然后他添加了谷氨酸。

“He’s all of a sudden yelling and screaming from his microscope setup: ‘Hey boss, come here!

“他突然从显微镜装置中大喊大叫：‘嘿老板，来这里！

You’ve got to see this!’” Smith recalled.

你一定要看看这个！’”史密斯回忆道。

“They [the astrocytes] went completely nuts.” Fluorescence rippled across the bed of astrocytes in waves, hopping from one cell to the next.

“他们（星形胶质细胞）完全疯了。”荧光以波状在星形胶质细胞床上荡漾，从一个细胞跳到下一个细胞。

These calcium waves showed coordinated activity, as if the astrocytes were communicating with each other.

这些钙波表现出协调的活动，就好像星形胶质细胞正在相互交流一样。

And because the cells responded to glutamate, it was only logical that they would also respond to neurons.

由于细胞对谷氨酸有反应，因此它们也会对神经元做出反应是合乎逻辑的。

In their 1990 paper describing the experiment, the researchers boldly proposed that “networks of astrocytes may constitute a long-range signaling system within the brain.” Other teams soon showed that astrocytes in dishes, brain slices, and even anesthetized animals responded to various neurotransmitters.

在 1990 年描述该实验的论文中，研究人员大胆提出“星形胶质细胞网络可能构成大脑内的远程信号系统”。其他团队很快表明，培养皿、脑切片甚至麻醉动物中的星形胶质细胞对各种神经递质有反应。

This video, taken in 1989, shook up the field of neuroscience.

这段拍摄于 1989 年的视频震惊了神经科学领域。

Fluorescence reveals waves of calcium, hopping from one astrocyte to the next, in response to glutamate, the molecule many neurons use to communicate.

荧光显示钙波从一个星形胶质细胞跳到下一个星形胶质细胞，响应谷氨酸（许多神经元用来交流的分子）。

Glutamate was added at 0 seconds.

在 0 秒时添加谷氨酸。

Many neuroscientists at the time likened astrocytes’ newfound properties to those of neurons, but in retrospect the differences seem glaring.

当时许多神经科学家将星形胶质细胞新发现的特性与神经元的特性进行了比较，但回想起来，差异似乎很明显。

For one thing, astrocytes occupy relatively massive territory: One astrocyte covers a large expanse of tissue, reaching as many as 2 million synapses in the human brain.

一方面，星形胶质细胞占据相对较大的面积：一个星形胶质细胞覆盖一大片组织，达到人脑中多达 200 万个突触。

Astrocytes work on longer timescales than neurons do.

星形胶质细胞的工作时间比神经元更长。

Their calcium waves spread over a period ranging from seconds to minutes — much longer than the milliseconds it takes for neurons to propagate signals down their axons and release neurotransmitters.

它们的钙波传播的时间从几秒到几分钟不等——比神经元沿着轴突传播信号并释放神经递质所需的毫秒时间长得多。

To study how this surprising new view of astrocytes related to behavior, research groups turned to animal models.

为了研究星形胶质细胞这一令人惊讶的新观点如何与行为相关，研究小组转向动物模型。

Researchers tried to activate astrocytes in lab mice by bombarding them with sensory stimuli, such as by shining light in their eyes or touching their whiskers; they looked for a response through a cranial window under a fluorescent microscope.

研究人员试图通过用感官刺激轰击实验小鼠来激活星形胶质细胞，例如用光照射它们的眼睛或触摸它们的胡须；他们在荧光显微镜下通过颅窗寻找反应。

Sometimes the cells responded, sometimes they didn’t.

有时细胞会做出反应，有时则不会。

Then, in 2013 and 2014, two independent research teams reported a sure-fire way to get astrocytes’ attention: They startled the mice by surprising them with a puff of air or by abruptly turning on a treadmill under their feet.

然后，在 2013 年和 2014 年，两个独立研究小组报告了一种吸引星形胶质细胞注意力的可靠方法：他们通过吹一口空气或突然打开老鼠脚下的跑步机来吓唬老鼠。

The startle response is a largely unconscious defense mechanism and a sudden switch in brain state, found throughout the animal kingdom.

惊吓反应主要是一种无意识的防御机制和大脑状态的突然转变，在整个动物界都有发现。

When vertebrate animals are startled, neurons in a brainstem region called the locus coeruleus release norepinephrine, a neuromodulator associated with arousal, along fibers that fan out across the brain.

当脊椎动物受到惊吓时，称为蓝斑的脑干区域的神经元会沿着在大脑中呈扇形分布的纤维释放去甲肾上腺素，这是一种与唤醒相关的神经调节剂。

Instead of sending a specific message, as neurotransmitters do, neuromodulators dial brain activity up or down and change the brain’s overall state like a dial on a radio.

神经调节器不像神经递质那样发送特定的信息，而是向上或向下调节大脑活动，并像收音机上的旋钮一样改变大脑的整体状态。

The studies indicated that norepinephrine was the trigger for the astrocyte waves, implicating astrocytes in neuromodulation in some capacity.

研究表明，去甲肾上腺素是星形胶质细胞波的触发因素，表明星形胶质细胞在一定程度上参与神经调节。

A single rat astrocyte is splayed on a specialized nanowire structure .

单个大鼠星形胶质细胞分散在特殊的纳米线结构上。

In its native environment, the cell would envelop hundreds of thousands of synapses, enabling it to monitor and adjust neuronal signaling.

在其天然环境中，细胞将包裹数十万个突触，使其能够监测和调整神经元信号传导。

Still, so much about astrocyte signaling remained mysterious.

尽管如此，关于星形胶质细胞信号传导的许多内容仍然是个谜。

The cells were known to have norepinephrine receptors, but no one knew how the binding of norepinephrine led to the calcium waves.

已知这些细胞具有去甲肾上腺素受体，但没有人知道去甲肾上腺素的结合如何导致钙波。

And there was still the question of what signal those waves sent to downstream neurons.

仍然存在的问题是这些波向下游神经元发送了什么信号。

Some researchers thought astrocytes produced their own “gliotransmitter” molecules that acted upon neurons, but others disputed that notion.

一些研究人员认为星形胶质细胞产生自己的作用于神经元的“神经胶质递质”分子，但其他人对此观点提出质疑。

At meetings, researchers engaged in loud, heated debates over how much — indeed, whether — astrocytes shape the flow of information in the brain.

在会议上，研究人员就星形胶质细胞在多大程度上——实际上是否——塑造大脑中的信息流进行了激烈的争论。

A student in Freeman’s lab, Zhiguo Ma , then at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, sought to settle the issue in a fruit fly brain.

弗里曼实验室的一名学生、当时就职于马萨诸塞大学医学院的马志国试图解决果蝇大脑中的这个问题。

“Please don’t,” Freeman recalled warning him.

“请不要，”弗里曼回忆道警告过他。

“It’s such a mess.” Ma forged ahead.

“真是一团糟。”马云砥砺前行。

He replicated the startle response in fruit flies by suddenly flipping them upside down.

他通过突然翻转果蝇来复制它们的惊吓反应。

Using the delicate tools of molecular biology, he traced the chemical relay: The fly versions of norepinephrine activated astrocytes by opening a channel in the cell membrane, causing the release of a gliotransmitter — likely adenosine — that squelched neuronal signaling.

他利用分子生物学的精密工具，追踪了化学中继：苍蝇版本的去甲肾上腺素通过打开细胞膜上的通道激活星形胶质细胞，导致胶质递质（可能是腺苷）的释放，抑制神经元信号传导。

It was critical to characterize such neuron–astrocyte interactions, “as they would represent a potentially widespread mechanism for controlling brain function,” Freeman’s team wrote in Nature in 2016 .

弗里曼的团队在 2016 年的《自然》杂志上写道，描述这种神经元与星形胶质细胞相互作用的特征至关重要，“因为它们代表了一种潜在广泛的控制大脑功能的机制”。

To some, the experiment provided the first proof that astrocytes are integral parts of neural circuits.

对于一些人来说，该实验首次证明星形胶质细胞是神经回路的组成部分。

But one fruit fly paper was not enough to sway skeptics.

但一张果蝇纸不足以动摇怀疑者。

Nearly a decade later, eerily parallel findings in a vertebrate would tip the scales.

近十年后，在脊椎动物身上取得的惊人的相似发现将扭转局面。

Although we don’t often think of it this way, the act of giving up reflects a sudden shift in brain activity.

尽管我们通常不这么认为，但放弃的行为反映了大脑活动的突然转变。

It represents a change in mental state from hope to hopelessness that, like being startled, has profound effects on behavior.

它代表了精神状态从希望到绝望的变化，就像受到惊吓一样，对行为产生深远的影响。

Researchers led by the neuroscientist Misha Ahrens were studying what made zebra fish larvae give up when they made a discovery about how astrocytes mediate such a sudden change in mood.

神经科学家米莎·阿伦斯 (Misha Ahrens) 领导的研究人员在研究斑马鱼幼虫放弃的原因时发现了星形胶质细胞如何介导如此突然的情绪变化。

Misha Ahrens showed that astrocytes modulate the switch in brain state from hope to hopelessness — specifically, to the state of giving up after engaging in a futile effort.

米莎·阿伦斯 (Misha Ahrens) 表明，星形胶质细胞调节大脑状态从希望到绝望的转变，特别是在进行徒劳的努力后转变为放弃的状态。

What does it look like when a zebra fish gives up?

斑马鱼放弃时会是什么样子？

In the wild, if a zebra fish wants to stay put in flowing water, it will swim against the current.

在野外，如果斑马鱼想要留在流水中，它就会逆流游动。

In the lab at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus in Virginia, Ahrens’ team used virtual reality to create a simulation of a current in the zebra fish tank, so that a fish would think it was slipping backward no matter how furiously it swam.

在弗吉尼亚州霍华德休斯医学研究所珍妮莉亚研究园的实验室里，阿伦斯的团队利用虚拟现实技术模拟了斑马鱼缸中的水流，这样鱼无论游得多么猛烈，都会认为自己正在向后滑行。

The fish would swim harder at first, but after about 20 seconds, it would typically give up.

一开始鱼会游得更猛烈，但大约20秒后，它通常会放弃。

A little while later, it would try again.

过了一会儿，它会再次尝试。

All the while, the researchers monitored neurons and astrocytes in the zebra fish’s brain using advanced whole-brain imaging techniques.

一直以来，研究人员使用先进的全脑成像技术监测斑马鱼大脑中的神经元和星形胶质细胞。

As the fish fruitlessly fought the current, neurons that release norepinephrine fired; in response, calcium built up in astrocytes.

当鱼徒劳地抵抗电流时，释放去甲肾上腺素的神经元就会放电。作为回应，钙在星形胶质细胞中积聚。

The buildup paralleled the number of attempts the fish made to fight the current, as if the astrocytes were keeping track — until at some point they issued a stop signal, and the zebra fish gave up.

这种积累与鱼对抗水流的尝试次数一致，就好像星形胶质细胞一直在跟踪一样——直到在某个时刻它们发出停止信号，斑马鱼放弃了。

When Ahrens’ team disabled the astrocytes using a laser, the fish never stopped swimming.

当阿伦斯的团队使用激光使星形胶质细胞失效时，鱼从未停止游动。

And if the astrocytes were artificially activated, the fish stopped right away.

如果星形胶质细胞被人为激活，鱼就会立即停下来。

“It was the first time that it was shown that astrocytes had a role in behavioral state switching,” Ahrens said.

“这是第一次证明星形胶质细胞在行为状态转换中发挥作用，”阿伦斯说。

In an ensuing Science paper , published in 2025, the researchers revealed how astrocytes caused these changes in behavior.

在随后于 2025 年发表的一篇《科学》论文中，研究人员揭示了星形胶质细胞如何导致这些行为变化。

Using fluorescent sensors for various molecules, they found that when enough calcium builds up in astrocytes, they release the energy molecule ATP, short for adenosine triphosphate.

他们使用各种分子的荧光传感器发现，当星形胶质细胞中积累了足够的钙时，它们会释放能量分子 ATP（三磷酸腺苷的缩写）。

Outside the cell, the ATP is converted into adenosine, which acts on neurons — in this case, by exciting neurons that inhibit swimming and suppressing swim neurons.

在细胞外，ATP 转化为腺苷，作用于神经元——在这种情况下，是通过刺激抑制游泳的神经元和抑制​​游泳神经元。

This sequence echoes what Ma and Freeman observed in the fruit fly.

这一序列与马和弗里曼在果蝇中观察到的结果相呼应。

For a long time, astrocytes (seen here in a fluorescence light micrograph of human tissue) were considered mere support and scaffolding for all-important neurons.

长期以来，星形胶质细胞（在人体组织的荧光显微照片中看到）仅被认为是所有重要神经元的支持和支架。

The new experiments reveal in great detail the cells’ influence over neuronal signaling in the brain.

新实验详细揭示了细胞对大脑神经元信号传导的影响。

The same molecular chain of events also showed up in the mouse brain, according to research led by Thomas Papouin at Washington University School of Medicine and published in the same Science issue.

根据华盛顿大学医学院托马斯·帕普因领导并发表在同一期《科学》杂志上的研究，相同的分子事件链也出现在小鼠大脑中。

Papouin’s team was studying changes at synapses that alter communication between neurons, a form of neuroplasticity that underlies ongoing shifts in thought and behavior.

帕普因的团队正在研究突触的变化，这些变化会改变神经元之间的交流，这是一种神经可塑性，是思想和行为持续转变的基础。

Norepinephrine was thought to produce these shifts by acting directly on neurons.

人们认为去甲肾上腺素通过直接作用于神经元来产生这些变化。

But to Papouin’s surprise, norepinephrine’s effects were apparent even when its receptors on neurons had been removed.

但令帕普因惊讶的是，即使神经元上的去甲肾上腺素受体被去除，去甲肾上腺素的作用仍然很明显。

The process depended solely on astrocytes.

该过程完全依赖于星形胶质细胞。

“We did expect that, in large part, the effect of norepinephrine on synapses would be mediated by astrocytes,” Papouin said.

“我们确实预计去甲肾上腺素对突触的影响在很大程度上是由星形胶质细胞介导的，”帕普因说。

“But we did not expect all of it to be!”

“但我们没想到这一切都是如此！”

The finding of parallel molecular pathways in such distinct species as fruit flies, zebra fish, and mice points to “an evolutionarily conserved way in which astrocytes can profoundly affect neural circuits,” Freeman said.

弗里曼说，在果蝇、斑马鱼和小鼠等不同物种中发现的平行分子途径表明“星形胶质细胞可以以一种进化上保守的方式深刻影响神经回路”。

The results suggest a gaping hole in previous theories of neuromodulation.

结果表明，先前的神经调节理论存在一个巨大的漏洞。

“In the past, neuroscientists studied neuromodulators and knew they were important in regulating neural circuit function, but none of their thinking, none of their diagrams, none of their models had anything in them other than neurons,” Fields said.

“过去，神经科学家研究神经调节剂，并知道它们在调节神经回路功能方面很重要，但他们的想法、图表、模型中都没有除了神经元之外的任何东西，”菲尔兹说。

“Now we see that they missed a big part of the story.”

“现在我们发现他们错过了故事的很大一部分。”

Thomas Papouin discovered that a type of neuroplasticity, which underlies shifts in thought and behavior, is mediated entirely by astrocytes, neurons not required.

托马斯·帕普因发现，一种神经可塑性是思想和行为转变的基础，完全由星形胶质细胞介导，而不需要神经元。

The fruit fly research by Freeman’s team indicates the next steps in research in vertebrates; in the same Science issue the group reported that norepinephrine changes how astrocytes respond to input from neurons.

弗里曼团队的果蝇研究表明了脊椎动物研究的下一步；在同一期《科学》杂志上，该小组报告说，去甲肾上腺素改变了星形胶质细胞对神经元输入的反应。

Freeman’s postdoc Kevin Guttenplan doused a dissected fly brain with the fly versions of norepinephrine.

弗里曼的博士后凯文·古腾普兰（Kevin Guttenplan）将苍蝇版本的去甲肾上腺素浸泡在解剖后的苍蝇大脑中。

“All of a sudden, the astrocytes went from responding to none of the other neurotransmitters to responding to all of them,” Guttenplan said.

古腾普兰说：“突然之间，星形胶质细胞从对其他神经递质不产生反应，变成对所有其他神经递质都产生反应。”

Norepinephrine and its analogues in the fly seem to enable astrocytes to “hear” neurons’ molecular messages and then modulate their activity.

果蝇中的去甲肾上腺素及其类似物似乎使星形胶质细胞能够“听到”神经元的分子信息，然后调节它们的活动。

This dynamic helps explain how astrocytes can rapidly switch the brain from one state to another.

这种动态有助于解释星形胶质细胞如何快速将大脑从一种状态切换到另一种状态。

“If there’s low norepinephrine, which would mean low arousal, astrocytes don’t listen much at all to other synapses,” Freeman said.

弗里曼说：“如果去甲肾上腺素水平较低，这意味着觉醒程度较低，星形胶质细胞根本不会倾听其他突触的声音。”

“But as soon as you arouse the animal, and there is norepinephrine around, now astrocytes can listen to every synapse, and they can turn around and change how neurons fire in response to that.”

“但是一旦你唤醒了动物，并且周围有去甲肾上腺素，现在星形胶质细胞就可以聆听每个突触，并且它们可以转身并改变神经元对此做出反应的方式。”

The results reveal a new complexity to how the brain processes information, Guttenplan said.

古腾普兰说，这些结果揭示了大脑处理信息的新复杂性。

“On top of the already complicated connectome [network of neurons], you have this whole other layer of regulation.”

“在已经很复杂的连接组（神经元网络）之上，还有另一层调控。”

Although the details of astrocytes’ signaling mechanism are coming into focus, they still lag behind what is known about neurotransmission.

尽管星形胶质细胞信号传导机制的细节正在成为人们关注的焦点，但它们仍然落后于我们对神经传递的了解。

“It’s an exciting time,” said Alex Chen , a student at Harvard Medical School and first author of the zebra fish paper.

“这是一个激动人心的时刻，”哈佛医学院的学生、斑马鱼论文的第一作者 Alex Chen 说。

“For the astrocyte field, at least conceptually, we are not very far ahead of where people were for neurons” at the onset of modern neuroscience in the 1950s.

“对于星形胶质细胞领域，至少在概念上，我们并没有比人们在神经元方面领先很多”，在 20 世纪 50 年代现代神经科学开始时。

Working in zebra fish, Alex Chen observed the first known instance of astrocytes mediating a rapid transition between brain states.

亚历克斯·陈（Alex Chen）在斑马鱼身上观察到了第一个已知的星形胶质细胞介导大脑状态之间快速转变的实例。

Meanwhile, researchers are homing in on critical brain functions that astrocytes mediate.

与此同时，研究人员正在关注星形胶质细胞介导的关键大脑功能。

Some research suggests that astrocytes’ ability to accumulate information over time (as happened with the zebra fish’s swim attempts) extends to the sleep-wake cycle.

一些研究表明，星形胶质细胞随着时间的推移积累信息的能力（正如斑马鱼的游泳尝试所发生的那样）延伸到睡眠-觉醒周期。

Astrocytes appear to keep track of people’s increasing sleep debt throughout the day, likely through a buildup of calcium , and secrete sleep-inducing molecules that alter brain activity.

星形胶质细胞似乎可以通过钙的积累来跟踪人们全天不断增加的睡眠债，并分泌改变大脑活动的睡眠诱导分子。

“We see astrocytes implicated in behaviors associated with big state transitions — like sleep, hunger, arousal — where you need multiple types of circuits over a very large area to get turned on and off, especially on a slower timescale,” Guttenplan said.

古腾普兰说：“我们发现星形胶质细胞与大状态转换（如睡眠、饥饿、觉醒）相关的行为有关，在这些状态转换中，你需要在很大的区域内开启和关闭多种类型的电路，尤其是在较慢的时间尺度上。”

Those behaviors may reflect mental health conditions.

这些行为可能反映了心理健康状况。

Last year, researchers revealed a neuron-astrocyte brain circuit that was triggered by stress and produced behavior resembling depression in mice.

去年，研究人员揭示了一种由压力触发的神经元-星形胶质细胞大脑回路，并在小鼠中产生类似抑郁症的行为。

It’s possible that some mental health disorders are disorders of astrocyte signaling.

某些精神健康障碍可能是星形胶质细胞信号传导障碍所致。

People’s moods change relatively slowly, Ahrens said, in a process partly driven by neuromodulators.

阿伦斯说，人们的情绪变化相对缓慢，这一过程部分是由神经调节剂驱动的。

Astrocytes’ role in neuromodulation points to their promise as a drug target.

星形胶质细胞在神经调节中的作用表明它们有望成为药物靶点。

“Neuroscience has only cared about neurons for a century now, and we don’t yet have a cure for a single brain disorder,” Papouin said.

帕普因说：“神经科学对神经元的关注仅存在一个世纪了，我们还没有治愈任何一种大脑疾病的方法。”

The way to change that, he said, is to accept the existence and influence of non-neuronal cells such as astrocytes, and to include them in models and experiments.

他说，改变这种状况的方法是接受星形胶质细胞等非神经元细胞的存在和影响，并将它们纳入模型和实验中。

Most neuroscientists haven’t received that memo, Freeman said.

弗里曼说，大多数神经科学家还没有收到这份备忘录。

“Ninety-nine percent of people who are out there doing experiments on circuits don’t even think about what the astrocyte might be doing.

“百分之九十九的人在进行电路实验时甚至没有考虑星形胶质细胞可能在做什么。

And it could have really profound effects on how that circuit functions.”

它可能会对电路的功能产生真正深远的影响。”

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《Quanta》杂志对评论进行审核，以促进知情、实质性、文明的对话。

Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected.

辱骂、亵渎、自我推销、误导、语无伦次或偏离主题的评论将被拒绝。

Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (New York time) and can only accept comments written in English.

版主在正常工作时间（纽约时间）有工作人员，并且只能接受英文评论。