Many of the central questions in neurobiology today can be reduced to a single form: How does brief stimulation of a neuron lead to a more prolonged change in its cellular properties? For example, a train of action potentials lasting only a few seconds can alter the firing pattern of a neuron, or its ability to release neurotransmitter, for periods of many minutes or hours and can even lead to long-term changes in gene expression that affect the properties of the cells for many days. A slightly briefer stimulus, or one in which the same number of action potentials are applied at a lower frequency, may fail to evoke these events. Ongoing research suggests that mitochondria may be key organelles that participate early in such decision making.
The work of cell biologists in the last few years has provided...
