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    Home > Active Ingredient News > Study of Nervous System > [Cell] Scientists at Harvard University have discovered a mechanism that helps explain why certain parts of the body are so sensitive to external perceptions

    [Cell] Scientists at Harvard University have discovered a mechanism that helps explain why certain parts of the body are so sensitive to external perceptions

    • Last Update: 2021-10-21
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
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    This article is original by Translational Medicine Network.
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    Author: Tiffany Guide: The skin is also called a sensory organ.
    This is mainly because the skin has extremely sensitive sensory functions and can pass various external stimuli through the nerve fibers contained in the skin.
    And nerve endings, which are transmitted to the brain through nerves, which make people respond consciously or unconsciously to stimuli such as heat, cold, touch, pain, and pressure
    .

    Therefore, the skin's sensory function itself is the skin's protective system, which can avoid skin mechanical, physical and chemical damage
    .

    The most sensitive parts of the skin feeling in the fingers, tongue, etc.

    .

    Recently, scientists at Harvard University have discovered a new mystery about the tactile nerve.
    .
    .
    Some parts of our body, such as hands and lips, are more sensitive than other parts.
    Therefore, these sensitive parts are unknowingly.
    The earth has become an important tool for us to distinguish the world around us and perceive changes in the surrounding environment.
    These sensitive parts can help us understand and explore how our living space works every day
    .

    This important ability also encourages us to live safely in the environment, understand the surrounding situation more quickly, and react sensitively to changes
    .

    Without these sensitive organs, we cannot obtain the necessary information from this world, and the obstacles to our survival are conceivable
    .

    The skin is one of these sensitive organs and the largest organ in the human body
    .

    The surface of these skins is dedicated to feel the delicate substances and subtle changes in the outside world.
    The brain continuously collects detailed information from itself through the skin's tactile neurons
    .

    It can be seen from this that the role of the skin is very large and crucial, and its function is beyond the reach of other organs.
    There is no doubt about this
    .

    But how exactly does the connection between tactile neurons and the brain make the skin so sensitive? Recently, scientists at Harvard Medical School discovered a mechanism in a new study they led that could help They recognize what causes some skin areas to be more sensitive
    .

    They published the results of this research in an article titled "Mechanoreceptor synapses in the brainstem shape the central representation of touch" in the "Cell" magazine: In this study, scientists performed experiments on mice
    .

    They found that the overrepresentation of the sensitive skin surface in the brain is formed in early puberty, which can be accurate to the brainstem
    .

    In addition, compared with neurons in the less sensitive parts of the body, the tactile neurons that are distributed in the more sensitive parts of the skin and transmit information to the brainstem form more and stronger connections
    .

    David Ginty, a professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School and the senior author of the study, said, “This study provides us with an understanding of the mechanism and helps us figure out why there are more brain regions.
    They are all connected to the skin surface with high tactile sensitivity
    .

    This mechanism helps us explain why a person’s sensory acuity is more distributed where it is needed
    .

    "Although this experiment was carried out on mice, all The overrepresentation of sensitive skin areas in the brain can be observed in mammals, indicating that this mechanism is likely to be applicable to other species
    .

    From an evolutionary perspective, mammals have very different body shapes, which means that different skin surfaces have their own sensitivity
    .

    For example, humans have highly sensitive hands and lips, while for pigs, they explore the world by relying on their highly sensitive noses
    .

    Therefore, Ginty believes that this mechanism can bring developmental flexibility to the sensitivity of different species in different regions
    .

    Although these findings are relatively basic, they will one day help to clarify the tactile abnormalities that occur in certain neurodevelopmental disorders in humans
    .

    Scientists have known before that certain body parts occupy too much space in the brain, as described by the brain's tactile mapping
    .

    This picture depicts the various parts of the human body and the corresponding areas in the brain that process signals from these body parts
    .

    This eye-catching drawing draws cartoon-like oversized hands and lips
    .

    Previously, it was thought that the excessive expression of energy in sensitive skin areas in the brain was due to the higher density of neurons innervating these skin areas.
    However, research in Ginty's laboratory revealed something different: although sensitive skin contains more neurons , But these extra neurons are not enough to fill the extra brain space
    .

    Neurobiology researcher Brendan Lehnert and Celine Santiago, a researcher who also works in Ginty's laboratory, led the experiment.
    He explained: “Compared with our expectations, the number of neurons that innervate sensitive skin is quite small.
    Reasonable
    .

    "In order to study this contradiction, researchers conducted frequent experiments on mice.
    They observed how the brain and neurons were imaged when neurons were stimulated in different ways
    .

    First, they studied how different skin areas in the brain appear during the entire developmental process of mice: In the early stages of development, the sensitive, hairless skin on the mouse's paws is proportional to the density of tactile neurons.

    .

    However, between adolescence and adulthood, the proportion of this sensitive skin in the brain is increasing, although the density of neurons remains stable-this change is not seen in the less sensitive furry paw skin
    .

    Ginty and Lehnert said: "These experiments are sufficient to explain: In addition to the innervation density of skin nerve cells, there are other reasons that cause the brain to be over-represented
    .

    The changes seen at these developmental time points after birth are really beyond ours.
    As expected, this may be just one of the many important changes in postpartum development.
    These changes allow us to associate and understand the tactile world around us, thereby helping us to gain the ability to manipulate objects through the motion circuit, and touch is a must The less part
    .

    ” Next, the research team determined that a function of the brainstem, located at the bottom of the brain, is responsible for transmitting information from tactile neurons to more complex and higher-order brain regions, which is also the result of the enlarged surface of sensitive skin.
    Location
    .

    This discovery made the researchers realize that the excessive presentation of sensitive skin must come from the connection between tactile neurons and brainstem neurons
    .

    For further research, the scientists compared the connection between the tactile neurons and brainstem neurons of different types of paw skin
    .

    They found that the connections between neurons in sensitive, hairless skin are stronger than in less sensitive, hairy skin
    .

    Therefore, the research team concluded that the strength and number of connections between neurons play a key role in the overexpression of sensitive skin in the brain
    .

    Finally, even if the tactile neurons on sensitive skin are not stimulated, the presentation in the mouse brain is still expanding, which indicates that it is the skin type that causes these brain changes, rather than long-term touch stimulation
    .

    Ginty said: "We have discovered the components of this enlarged presentation, which explains the disproportionate central representation of the sensory space
    .

    This has already considered how this enlargement occurs in another way
    .

    " Next, the researchers I want to study how different skin areas make the neurons that stimulate them have different characteristics.
    For example, when they stimulate sensitive skin, they form more and stronger connections
    .

    Ginty and his team wanted to know what signal caused this result
    .

    Lehnert points to a universal connection called developmental coordination disorder and the effects of human neurodevelopmental disorders to contact receptors and the brain, and therefore benefits from further elucidating the interaction between the two
    .

    Lehnert said: "This is the effect of the many studies we are looking forward to.
    These studies will explore the changes in the body during development on a mechanical level
    .

    We are very confident that this mechanism will help us better understand certain aspects in the future .
    The problem of neurodevelopmental disorders
    .

    "Reference: https://medicalxpress.
    com/news/2021-10-unraveling-mystery-mechanism-uncovered-body.
    html Note: This article aims to introduce medical research progress and cannot be used as a reference for treatment options
    .

    If you need health guidance, please go to a regular hospital
    .

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