American researchers from the University of Southern California (USA) have achieved andlimit cold sensitivity in miceremoving a specific type of neuron from them. The rodents, however, retained the sensation of warmth and touch, according to the work published in the magazineJournal of Neuroscience in its latest edition.
In previous works it had been observed thata protein in nerve cells called TRPM8, which functions as an ion channel, was responsible for the feeling of cold. This protein, which is expressed in sensory neurons, is activated at low temperatures and with cooling chemical agents, such as menthol, and generates the corresponding response, according to the SINC agency.
In this new study, the researchers succeeded in isolating and deactivating, in mice, the neurons in which the TRPM8 protein is expressed. They then used a control group of normal rodents and another of animals with deactivated TRPM8 neurons and placed them on a surface with different temperatures, between 0ºC and 50ºC, where they could move freely. While the mice in the control group tended to stay in the warm temperature zones, around 30 ° C, those whose TRPM8 neurons had been disabled only avoided the warmer regions. According to the authors, this fact indicates that animals without these nerve cells cannot feel cold, but they can feel heat.
This findcould have indirect applications in pain management, if it were possible to act in a similar way to specifically deactivate the neurons involved in the painful process without altering the rest of the sensations.
