Just now, the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was announced!

Just now, the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was announced!

Just now, the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was announced! Just now, the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was announced!

In 2021, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to American scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian on the grounds that they "discovered temperature and tactile receptors
.

"

The 2021 Nobel Prize single prize is 10 million Swedish kronor (approximately RMB 7.
409 million)
.

David Julius ( David Julius ) , was born in 1955 in New York
.

He received his Ph.

David Julius ( David Julius ) David Julius was born in New York, USA in 1955

Ardem Patapoutian

Humans’ ability to perceive heat, cold, and touch is vital to survival and supports our interaction with the world around us
.

In daily life, we take these feelings for granted, but how are nerve impulses generated so that temperature and pressure can be sensed? This year's Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine solved this problem

David Julius uses capsaicin (a pungent compound extracted from peppers that produces a burning sensation) to identify the sensors on the nerve endings of the skin that respond to heat
.

Arden Pataptian used pressure-sensitive cells to discover a new type of sensor that responds to mechanical stimuli on the skin and internal organs

How do we perceive the world?

How do we perceive the world?

How do people perceive their surroundings? This question is one of the biggest mysteries facing mankind
.

For thousands of years, human sensory mechanisms have stimulated the curiosity of scientists.

In the 17th century, French philosopher Rene Descartes envisioned the existence of threads connecting different parts of the skin with the brain
.

In this way, a foot hitting an open flame will send a mechanical signal to the brain (Figure 1)

Nevertheless, before the discoveries of David Julius and Arden Pataptian, people’s understanding of how the nervous system perceives and interprets the surrounding environment still contains a fundamentally unsolved problem: in the nervous system, temperature and How is mechanical stimulation transformed into electrical impulse?

Figure 1 An illustration of how the philosopher Descartes imagined how heat sends mechanical signals to the brain
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Figure 1 An illustration of how the philosopher Descartes imagined how heat sends mechanical signals to the brain
.

Science heats up!

Science heats up!

In the late 1990s, David Julius of the University of California, San Francisco, analyzed how the compound capsaicin caused people to experience a burning sensation when they were exposed to peppers, and saw the possibility of significant progress
.

It has been known that capsaicin can activate nerve cells and cause pain, but how this chemical substance exerts this function is still an unsolved mystery

Capsaicin sensitive gene has been found! Further experiments showed that the gene encodes a new ion channel protein, and this newly discovered capsaicin receptor was later named TRPV1
.

When Julius studied the ability of this protein to respond to heat, he realized that he had discovered a thermoreceptor that was activated at a temperature that felt pain (Figure 2)
.

Figure 2 David Julius uses capsaicin in peppers to identify TRPV1, an ion channel activated by painful searing
.
Since then, scientists have discovered other related ion channels, and now people understand how different temperatures induce electrical signals in the nervous system
.

Figure 2 David Julius uses capsaicin in peppers to identify TRPV1, an ion channel activated by painful searing
.
Since then, scientists have discovered other related ion channels, and now people understand how different temperatures induce electrical signals in the nervous system
.

The discovery of TRPV1 is a major breakthrough, leading the way to understand other temperature-sensitive receptors
.
David Julius and Arden Pataptian independently used the chemical menthol to identify TRPM8, a receptor that has been shown to be activated by cold
.
I also discovered ion channels related to TRPV1 and TRPM8, and found that they can be activated by a range of different temperatures
.
Many laboratories conduct research by using genetically manipulated mice lacking these newly discovered genes to study the role of these channels in heat sensation
.
David Julius discovered that TRPV1 is a breakthrough, which allows people to understand how temperature differences induce electrical signals in the nervous system
.

Research under pressure!

Research under pressure!

Although the mechanism of temperature perception is gradually unfolding, it is still unclear how mechanical stimuli are transformed into people's sense of touch and pressure
.
Previously, researchers found mechanical sensors in bacteria, but in vertebrates, the underlying mechanism of touch remains unclear
.
Arden Pataptian, who works at the Scripps Research Center in La Jolla, California, hopes to find elusive receptors activated by mechanical stimuli
.

Arden Pataptian and colleagues first discovered a cell line that emits a measurable electrical signal when a single cell is poked by a microtubule
.
They hypothesized that the receptor activated by mechanical force was an ion channel, and further identified 72 candidate genes encoding possible receptors
.
These genes were inactivated one by one, and the gene responsible for force sensitivity was found in the cell under study
.
After painstaking research, Pataptian and his colleagues successfully identified a gene whose silencing made the cells insensitive to microtubule poking
.
People discovered a completely new and completely unknown force-sensitive ion channel and named it "piezo 1", which is derived from the Greek word "pressure" (í; piesi)
.
Through the similarity with Piezo 1, people discovered the second gene and named it Piezo 2
.
Scientists found that sensory neurons express high levels of piezoelectric 2, and further studies confirmed that piezoelectric 1 and piezoelectric 2 directly activate ion channels by applying pressure to the cell membrane (Figure 3)
.

Figure 3 Pataputian uses cultured mechanically sensitive cells to identify an ion channel activated by mechanical force
.
After hard work, piezoelectric 1 was determined
.
Based on the similarity with Piezo 1, a second ion channel (Piezo 2) was discovered
.

Figure 3 Pataputian uses cultured mechanically sensitive cells to identify an ion channel activated by mechanical force
.
After hard work, piezoelectric 1 was determined
.
Based on the similarity with Piezo 1, a second ion channel (Piezo 2) was discovered
.

Pataptian’s breakthrough prompted his team and other teams to publish a series of papers, demonstrating that piezoelectric 2 ion channels are essential to the sense of touch
.
In addition, Piezo 2 has been shown to play a key role in important body position and motion perception, namely proprioception
.
In further research, the Piezo 1 and Piezo 2 channels have been shown to regulate other important physiological processes, including blood pressure, respiration, and bladder control
.

Suddenly realized!

Suddenly realized!

This year's Nobel Prize winners made breakthrough discoveries on TRPV1, TRPM8 and piezoelectric channels, allowing people to understand how heat, cold and mechanical forces trigger nerve impulses, allowing us to perceive and adapt to the world around us
.
The TRP channel is the core of our ability to sense temperature
.
Piezo 2 channels give us the sense of touch and the ability to perceive the position and movement of body parts
.
TRP and piezoelectric channels also contribute to many additional physiological functions, relying on sensing temperature or mechanical stimulation
.
This year’s Nobel Prize winners’ in-depth research focused on elucidating their functions in various physiological processes
.
This knowledge is being used to develop treatments for various diseases, including chronic pain (Figure 4)
.

Figure 4 The major discoveries of this year's Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine explain how heat, cold and touch activate signals in people's nervous system
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The ion channels they identified are important to many physiological processes and diseases
.

Figure 4 The major discoveries of this year's Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine explain how heat, cold and touch activate signals in people's nervous system
.
The ion channels they identified are important to many physiological processes and diseases
.

List of Nobel Prize Laureates in Physiology or Medicine in the past 6 years:

List of Nobel Prize Laureates in Physiology or Medicine in the past 6 years:

2020-Three American and British scientists, Harvey J.
Alter, Michael Houghton, and Charles M.
Rice, won the award on the basis of "the discovery of hepatitis C virus
.
"

2019 - three American and British scientists William G.
Kaelin Jr, Peter J.
Ratcliffe and Gregg L.
Semenza award, the award-winning grounds that "discovered how cells sense and adapt to the availability of oxygen"
.

2018-American scientist James P.
Allision and Japanese scientist Tasuku Honjo won awards for "the discovery of cancer therapy that inhibits negative immune regulation"
.

2017-Three American scientists Jeffrey C.
Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W.
Young won the award for "discovering the molecular mechanism that regulates the circadian rhythm
.
"

2016-Japanese scientist Yoshinori Ohsumi won the prize for "discovering the mechanism of autophagy
.
"

2015-Chinese scientist Tu Youyou won the award on the grounds of "discovery of new treatments for malaria"; the other two award-winning scientists were William C.
Campbell of Ireland and Satoshi Omura of Japan.
Discovery of Therapy"
.

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine:

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine:

——From 1901 to 2020, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded 111 times
.
The nine unissued years are 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1921, 1925, 1940, 1941, and 1942
.

——Of the 111 awards, 39 times were awarded by a single person, 33 times were shared by 2 people, and 39 times were shared by 3 people
.

——From 1901 to 2020, a total of 222 awards were awarded
.

——The youngest winner is Frederick G.
Banting, a Canadian scientist, who was awarded in 1923 for "discovering insulin" at the age of 32
.

——The oldest winner is Peyton Rous, an American scientist.
He was awarded in 1966 for the discovery of tumor-inducing virus.
He was 87 years old
.

-Of the 222 Nobel Prize winners in Physiology or Medicine, 12 are women
.
They are Gerty Cori in 1947, Rosalyn Yalow in 1977, Barbara McClintock in 1983, Rita Levi-Montalcini in 1986, Gertrude B.
Elion in 1988, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard in 1995, and Linda B.
Elion in 2004.
Buck, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi in 2008, Elizabeth H.
Blackburn and Carol W.
Greider in 2009, May-Britt Moser in 2014, and Tu Youyou in 2015
.