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▎ WuXi AppTec content team editor Now, pick up a tissue and touch or swipe it with your finger, you should be able to feel the special roughness of the paper
.
At this point, you can gently rub the smooth clothes with your fingers, and you will definitely be able to distinguish the subtle differences between the two materials
.
But don't think that all parts can be so delicate.
You can change the skin of your elbow and test it again.
You will find that the feelings of these two things seem to be the same
.
If you change to the lip skin, this sense of difference will come back
.
I have to admit that some areas of the body are indeed more sensitive
.
but why? In the past, neuroscientists used a very intuitive and slightly pleasant model "sensory dwarf" to describe the representation ratio of different areas of the body in the somatosensory and motor cortex
.
Among them, for the "somatic sensory dwarf", its mouth and palm will be abnormally large, indicating that the brain will greatly ensure the fine sensation of the fingers and lips/tongue, and these areas will be over-represented
.
▲3D model of sensory dwarf (picture source: CC BY-SA 4.
0 <https://creativecommons.
org/licenses/by-sa/4.
0>, via Wikimedia Commons) The brain provides many spaces for processing sensations from sensitive skin Neuron information
.
A new study by Harvard Medical School scholars in "Cell" found that this special care for sensitive skin may be formed in early adolescence and is closely related to the brain stem
.
The strange thing is that skin in sensitive areas does not have more neurons than other areas.
“Contrary to our expectations, sensitive skin has very few neurons,” said the lead author of the study, Dr.
Brendan Lehnert.
“It’s not simple increase the number of
.
"the results in mice, the early, hairless mice sole development and other hairy areas, as the number of neurons in the brain can be characterized proportionately
.
However, when puberty arrives, the difference will gradually become obvious, and the brain will gradually improve the representation of the hairless area, while the representation rules of the hairy area remain unchanged
.
▲Research diagram (picture source: reference [2]) "This may be one of the very important changes after we are born, helping us to use sensory motor to grasp the surrounding objects," said Dr.
Lehnert
.
Since the number of sensory neurons is not very different, there must be other mechanisms that help amplify the signals of sensitive skin
.
Dr.
Lehnert and colleagues discovered that the brain stem takes on this responsibility
.
It itself is a transfer station that connects the previous and the next, collecting signals from sensitive skin while transferring the processed signals to more complex brain regions
.
▲When the glabrous area (adult) is touched, the neuron signals in a specific brain area will be stronger, which is in sharp contrast with the hairy area (picture source: reference [2]) but the brain The stem is also eccentric, and brainstem neurons will have a stronger connection with sensory neurons in the hairless area, amplifying the signs of sensitive skin
.
The hairy areas don't pay much attention to it, and it's almost enough to pass the signal over
.
Studies have pointed out that the strength of the connection between the neurons in these two regions directly determines how the brain feels
.
Research suggests that this change in the brain is only related to the type of skin, and will not change according to the number of times you produce touch
.
In other words, after adolescence, the status of sensitive skin is already firmly established.
Even if you repeatedly touch your elbow, your brain will not look at it differently.
.
.
▲ Dr.
Brendan Lehnert (Source: School official website personal homepage) Actually From an evolutionary point of view, this distinction is necessary for mammals, because the appearance of animals has great changes
.
For people, hands are very versatile, and palm skin should be more sensitive
.
But for pigs, they rely heavily on their noses when exploring their surroundings, so the skin of their noses has a higher priority
.
Dr.
Lehnert pointed out that understanding this sensory mechanism may be of great help to some patients with developmental coordination disorders, whose sensory receptors and the connection between the brain are usually affected
.
"In the future, these studies will allow us to better address specific neurodevelopmental diseases," said Dr.
Lehnert
.
Reference: [1] Unraveling the mystery of touch.
RetrievedOct 12, 2021 from https://medicalxpress.
com/news/2021-10-unraveling-mystery-mechanism-uncovered-body.
html[2] Brendan P.
Lehnert, et al.
Mechanoreceptorsynapses in the brainstem shape the central representation of touch, Cell, 2021,DOI: 10.
1016/j.
cell.
2021.
09.
023.
.
At this point, you can gently rub the smooth clothes with your fingers, and you will definitely be able to distinguish the subtle differences between the two materials
.
But don't think that all parts can be so delicate.
You can change the skin of your elbow and test it again.
You will find that the feelings of these two things seem to be the same
.
If you change to the lip skin, this sense of difference will come back
.
I have to admit that some areas of the body are indeed more sensitive
.
but why? In the past, neuroscientists used a very intuitive and slightly pleasant model "sensory dwarf" to describe the representation ratio of different areas of the body in the somatosensory and motor cortex
.
Among them, for the "somatic sensory dwarf", its mouth and palm will be abnormally large, indicating that the brain will greatly ensure the fine sensation of the fingers and lips/tongue, and these areas will be over-represented
.
▲3D model of sensory dwarf (picture source: CC BY-SA 4.
0 <https://creativecommons.
org/licenses/by-sa/4.
0>, via Wikimedia Commons) The brain provides many spaces for processing sensations from sensitive skin Neuron information
.
A new study by Harvard Medical School scholars in "Cell" found that this special care for sensitive skin may be formed in early adolescence and is closely related to the brain stem
.
The strange thing is that skin in sensitive areas does not have more neurons than other areas.
“Contrary to our expectations, sensitive skin has very few neurons,” said the lead author of the study, Dr.
Brendan Lehnert.
“It’s not simple increase the number of
.
"the results in mice, the early, hairless mice sole development and other hairy areas, as the number of neurons in the brain can be characterized proportionately
.
However, when puberty arrives, the difference will gradually become obvious, and the brain will gradually improve the representation of the hairless area, while the representation rules of the hairy area remain unchanged
.
▲Research diagram (picture source: reference [2]) "This may be one of the very important changes after we are born, helping us to use sensory motor to grasp the surrounding objects," said Dr.
Lehnert
.
Since the number of sensory neurons is not very different, there must be other mechanisms that help amplify the signals of sensitive skin
.
Dr.
Lehnert and colleagues discovered that the brain stem takes on this responsibility
.
It itself is a transfer station that connects the previous and the next, collecting signals from sensitive skin while transferring the processed signals to more complex brain regions
.
▲When the glabrous area (adult) is touched, the neuron signals in a specific brain area will be stronger, which is in sharp contrast with the hairy area (picture source: reference [2]) but the brain The stem is also eccentric, and brainstem neurons will have a stronger connection with sensory neurons in the hairless area, amplifying the signs of sensitive skin
.
The hairy areas don't pay much attention to it, and it's almost enough to pass the signal over
.
Studies have pointed out that the strength of the connection between the neurons in these two regions directly determines how the brain feels
.
Research suggests that this change in the brain is only related to the type of skin, and will not change according to the number of times you produce touch
.
In other words, after adolescence, the status of sensitive skin is already firmly established.
Even if you repeatedly touch your elbow, your brain will not look at it differently.
.
.
▲ Dr.
Brendan Lehnert (Source: School official website personal homepage) Actually From an evolutionary point of view, this distinction is necessary for mammals, because the appearance of animals has great changes
.
For people, hands are very versatile, and palm skin should be more sensitive
.
But for pigs, they rely heavily on their noses when exploring their surroundings, so the skin of their noses has a higher priority
.
Dr.
Lehnert pointed out that understanding this sensory mechanism may be of great help to some patients with developmental coordination disorders, whose sensory receptors and the connection between the brain are usually affected
.
"In the future, these studies will allow us to better address specific neurodevelopmental diseases," said Dr.
Lehnert
.
Reference: [1] Unraveling the mystery of touch.
RetrievedOct 12, 2021 from https://medicalxpress.
com/news/2021-10-unraveling-mystery-mechanism-uncovered-body.
html[2] Brendan P.
Lehnert, et al.
Mechanoreceptorsynapses in the brainstem shape the central representation of touch, Cell, 2021,DOI: 10.
1016/j.
cell.
2021.
09.
023.
