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The Journal of Clinical Investigation Nov 2010To paraphrase Cole Porter's famous 1926 song, "What is this thing called pain? This funny thing called pain, just who can solve its mystery?" Pain, like love, is all... (Review)
Review
To paraphrase Cole Porter's famous 1926 song, "What is this thing called pain? This funny thing called pain, just who can solve its mystery?" Pain, like love, is all consuming: when you have it, not much else matters, and there is nothing you can do about it. Unlike love, however, we are actually beginning to tease apart the mystery of pain. The substantial progress made over the last decade in revealing the genes, molecules, cells, and circuits that determine the sensation of pain offers new opportunities to manage it, as revealed in this Review series by some of the foremost experts in the field.
Topics: Humans; Pain; Syndrome
PubMed: 21041955
DOI: 10.1172/JCI45178 -
The Journal of Clinical Investigation Nov 2010Specialized peripheral sensory neurons known as nociceptors alert us to potentially damaging stimuli at the skin by detecting extremes in temperature and pressure and... (Review)
Review
Specialized peripheral sensory neurons known as nociceptors alert us to potentially damaging stimuli at the skin by detecting extremes in temperature and pressure and injury-related chemicals, and transducing these stimuli into long-ranging electrical signals that are relayed to higher brain centers. The activation of functionally distinct cutaneous nociceptor populations and the processing of information they convey provide a rich diversity of pain qualities. Current work in this field is providing researchers with a more thorough understanding of nociceptor cell biology at molecular and systems levels and insight that will allow the targeted design of novel pain therapeutics.
Topics: Animals; Hot Temperature; Humans; Ion Channels; Mechanotransduction, Cellular; Nervous System; Nociceptors; Pain; Pain Threshold; Sensation; Signal Transduction; Skin
PubMed: 21041958
DOI: 10.1172/JCI42843 -
Journal of Medical Internet Research Oct 2019Brain-machine interfaces hold promise for the restoration of sensory and motor function and the treatment of neurological disorders, but clinical brain-machine...
Brain-machine interfaces hold promise for the restoration of sensory and motor function and the treatment of neurological disorders, but clinical brain-machine interfaces have not yet been widely adopted, in part, because modest channel counts have limited their potential. In this white paper, we describe Neuralink's first steps toward a scalable high-bandwidth brain-machine interface system. We have built arrays of small and flexible electrode "threads," with as many as 3072 electrodes per array distributed across 96 threads. We have also built a neurosurgical robot capable of inserting six threads (192 electrodes) per minute. Each thread can be individually inserted into the brain with micron precision for avoidance of surface vasculature and targeting specific brain regions. The electrode array is packaged into a small implantable device that contains custom chips for low-power on-board amplification and digitization: The package for 3072 channels occupies less than 23×18.5×2 mm. A single USB-C cable provides full-bandwidth data streaming from the device, recording from all channels simultaneously. This system has achieved a spiking yield of up to 70% in chronically implanted electrodes. Neuralink's approach to brain-machine interface has unprecedented packaging density and scalability in a clinically relevant package.
Topics: Brain-Computer Interfaces; Humans; Sensation
PubMed: 31642810
DOI: 10.2196/16194 -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... Jan 2014Emotions are often felt in the body, and somatosensory feedback has been proposed to trigger conscious emotional experiences. Here we reveal maps of bodily sensations...
Emotions are often felt in the body, and somatosensory feedback has been proposed to trigger conscious emotional experiences. Here we reveal maps of bodily sensations associated with different emotions using a unique topographical self-report method. In five experiments, participants (n = 701) were shown two silhouettes of bodies alongside emotional words, stories, movies, or facial expressions. They were asked to color the bodily regions whose activity they felt increasing or decreasing while viewing each stimulus. Different emotions were consistently associated with statistically separable bodily sensation maps across experiments. These maps were concordant across West European and East Asian samples. Statistical classifiers distinguished emotion-specific activation maps accurately, confirming independence of topographies across emotions. We propose that emotions are represented in the somatosensory system as culturally universal categorical somatotopic maps. Perception of these emotion-triggered bodily changes may play a key role in generating consciously felt emotions.
Topics: Adult; Emotions; Female; Finland; Humans; Male; Psychophysiology; Self Report; Sensation
PubMed: 24379370
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1321664111 -
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Mar 2019Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS) is a common, heritable and evolutionarily conserved trait describing inter-individual differences in sensitivity to both negative... (Review)
Review
Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS) is a common, heritable and evolutionarily conserved trait describing inter-individual differences in sensitivity to both negative and positive environments. Despite societal interest in SPS, scientific knowledge is lagging behind. Here, we critically discuss how SPS relates to other theories, how to measure SPS, whether SPS is a continuous vs categorical trait, its relation to other temperament and personality traits, the underlying aetiology and neurobiological mechanisms, and relations to both typical and atypical development, including mental and sensory disorders. Drawing on the diverse expertise of the authors, we set an agenda for future research to stimulate the field. We conclude that SPS increases risk for stress-related problems in response to negative environments, but also provides greater benefit from positive and supportive experiences. The field requires more reliable and objective assessment of SPS, and deeper understanding of its mechanisms to differentiate it from other traits. Future research needs to target prevention of adverse effects associated with SPS, and exploitation of its positive potential to improve well-being and mental health.
Topics: Animals; Behavior; Cognition; Humans; Individuality; Self Concept; Sensation; Temperament
PubMed: 30639671
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.01.009 -
Cell Dec 2021This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for "explaining the molecular basis for sensing heat, cold and...
This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for "explaining the molecular basis for sensing heat, cold and mechanical force." Their findings capped off a scientific quest to identify the mechanisms within the somatosensory system mediating the detection of internal and external environments.
Topics: Animals; Biomechanical Phenomena; Capsaicin; Humans; Ion Channels; Nobel Prize; Sensation; Touch
PubMed: 34942094
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.11.034 -
Nutrients Jan 2020The sensation of flavour reflects the complex integration of aroma, taste, texture, and chemesthetic (oral and nasal irritation cues) from a food or food component....
The sensation of flavour reflects the complex integration of aroma, taste, texture, and chemesthetic (oral and nasal irritation cues) from a food or food component. Flavour is a major determinant of food palatability-the extent to which a food is accepted or rejected-and can profoundly influence diet selection, nutrition, and health. Despite recent progress, there are still gaps in knowledge on how taste and flavour cues are detected at the periphery, conveyed by the brainstem to higher cortical levels and then interpreted as a conscious sensation. Taste signals are also projected to central feeding centers where they can regulate hunger and fullness. Individual differences in sensory perceptions are also well known and can arise from genetic variation, environmental causes, or a variety of metabolic diseases, such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, and cancer. Genetic taste/smell variation could predispose individuals to these same diseases. Recent findings have also opened new avenues of inquiry, suggesting that fatty acids and carbohydrates may provide nutrient-specific signals informing the gut and brain of the nature of the ingested nutrients. This special issue on "Taste, Nutrition, and Health" presents original research communications and comprehensive reviews on topics of broad interest to researchers and educators in sensory science, nutrition, physiology, public health, and health care.
Topics: Diet; Food Preferences; Humans; Nutritional Status; Smell; Taste; Taste Perception
PubMed: 31935855
DOI: 10.3390/nu12010155 -
Current Opinion in Neurobiology Aug 2009
Topics: Animals; Humans; Neural Pathways; Sensation; Somatosensory Cortex
PubMed: 19717297
DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2009.08.002 -
Chemical Senses May 2019Mouthfeel refers to the physical or textural sensations in the mouth caused by foods and beverages that are essential to the acceptability of many edible products. The... (Review)
Review
Mouthfeel refers to the physical or textural sensations in the mouth caused by foods and beverages that are essential to the acceptability of many edible products. The sensory subqualities contributing to mouthfeel are often chemogenic in nature and include heat, burning, cooling, tingling, and numbing. These "chemesthetic" sensations are a result of the chemical activation of receptors that are associated with nerve fibers mediating pain and mechanotransduction. Each of these chemesthetic sensations in the oral cavity are transduced in the nervous system by a combination of different molecular channels/receptors expressed on trigeminal nerve fibers that innervate the mouth and tongue. The molecular profile of these channels and receptors involved in mouthfeel include many transient receptor potential channels, proton-sensitive ion channels, and potassium channels to name a few. During the last several years, studies using molecular and physiological approaches have significantly expanded and enhanced our understanding of the neurobiological basis for these chemesthetic sensations. The purpose of the current review is to integrate older and newer studies to present a comprehensive picture of the channels and receptors involved in mouthfeel. We highlight that there still continue to be important gaps in our overall knowledge on flavor integration and perception involving chemesthetic sensations, and these gaps will continue to drive future research direction and future investigation.
Topics: Humans; Mouth; Receptors, Odorant; Sensation; Taste; Trigeminal Nerve
PubMed: 31039245
DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjz016 -
Current Biology : CB May 2012
Topics: Animals; Consciousness; Humans; Perception; Sensation
PubMed: 22625852
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.03.033