A team of European scientists led by the German scientist Trese Leinders-Zufall has for the first time established a link between the sense of smell and pain:people with a mutation in the SCN9A gene, which makes them unable to feel pain, cannot smell either. The results of this research will allow us to better understand the genetic factors associated with olfactory perception.
At the moment the reason for this relationship between pain and smell is unknown. However, researchers have determined that the absence of the sodium channelNot 1.7does not affect the olfactory potential of the neurons responsible for detecting odor, but ratherprevents the transmission of information to neural circuits and, therefore, does not reach the brain. ? This is a signaling problem. Olfactory sensory neurons detect odor, produce the electrical signal and are capable of propagating it throughout the nervous system to a certain point where they stop and fail to go further, failing to initiate the synaptic signal ?, explains Zufall, who has released his findings in the magazineNature.
Researchersdo not rule out that the same sodium channel intervenes in any other of the five senses. “We do not have an explanation for the connection between pain and odor, but it could be that this was an important channel for multiple sensory systems,” says the researcher. In this case, he adds, “the subjects studied were able to see and hear, but touch or taste was not investigated.”
The results of the research, which will be reproduced in a larger sample, will help to understand the genetic factors involved in olfactory perception, and also in the absence of it. Although there is a long list of genes related to blindness or deafness,until now there was no knowledge of any that could explain congenital anosmia. The discovery of this gene could lead to gene therapies to reactivate the olfactory sense in affected people.
“The sense of smell is very important and fulfills a survival function, when we are able to detect dangers such as fires, or, in the case of the animal world, where it is used to smell other predators”, emphasizes Zufall. From the human point of view “it allows enriching the experimentation of sensations in matters such as food. Although we are able to eat without smelling, smell helps us improve our experience and the pleasure we feel”, concludes the German scientist.
