Skip to main content

Home/ SciByte/ Group items tagged TouchMessages

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Mars Base

Specialized nerve fibers send touchy-feely messages to brain | Body & Brain | Scien... - 0 views

www.sciencenews.org/...touchy-feely_messages_to_brain

scibyte80 TouchMessages

shared by Mars Base on 31 Jan 13 - No Cached
  • Some nerve fibers seem to love a good rubdown. These tendrils, which spread across skin like upside-down tree roots, detect smooth, steady stroking and send a feel-good message to the brain
  • The results are the latest to emphasize the strong and often underappreciated connection between emotions and the sensation of touch
  • “It may seem frivolous to be studying massage neurons in mice, but it raises a profound issue — why do certain stimuli feel a certain way?”
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • . Earlier studies in people suggested that a particular breed of nerve fibers detects a caress and carries that signal to the brain
  • scientists hadn’t been able to directly link this type of neuron to good feelings, either in people or in animals.
  • Directly linking these neurons with pleasure clarifies the importance of touch
  • The new study relied on mice genetically engineered so that a select population of nerve cells would glow when they sensed a caress
  • These neurons,
  • possessed the attributes of massage sensors, but they stubbornly refused to respond to touch in experiments in lab dishes
  • by touching the genetically engineered animals’ skin, the researchers were able to study these cells in live mice.
  • A harsher poke, with a more focused point of pressure, didn’t elicit a reaction from the cells
  • These neurons, which all carry a protein called MRGPRB4, seem tuned to detect a steady stroke
  • the researchers tested whether this stroke felt good to mice
  • the scientists used a different kind of genetically engineered mouse, one with caress-sensitive neurons that a drug could activate
  • When the researchers dispensed the drug in a particular room, the mice soon learned to prefer that room over others
  • associating it with the presumably enjoyable sensation of being stroked
  • not yet clear whether the nerve fibers in the mice have exact analogs in humans,
  • new view of caress detection
  • offers a deeper understanding of touch.
1 - 1 of 1
Showing 20▼ items per page