Touch and the Brain,
Neurons in Human Skin Perform Advanced Calculations
“What one sense would you choose if you had to spend the rest of your
life with only one sense?” That was the question last Thursday night in my hot
topics discussion group. Many of us chose touch. Here is a research article on
how the skin can process information previously thought to happen only in the
brain.
Date: September 1, 2014 Source: Umeå
University
Summary:
Neurons
in human skin perform advanced calculations, previously believed that only the
brain could perform. A characteristic of neurons that extend into the skin
and record touch, is that they branch in the skin so that each neuron reports
touch from many highly-sensitive zones on the skin. According to researchers,
this branching allows first-order tactile neurons not only to send signals to the
brain that something has touched the skin, but also process Geometric data
about the object touching the skin.
Work
performed in Andrew Pruszynski's lab.
Credit:
Mattias Pettersson
Neurons
in human skin perform advanced calculations, previously believed that only the
brain could perform. This is according to a study from Umeå University in
Sweden published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
A fundamental characteristic of neurons that extend into the
skin and record touch, so-called first-order neurons in the tactile system, is
that they branch in the skin so that each neuron reports touch from many
highly-sensitive zones on the skin.
According to researchers at the Department of Integrative
Medical Biology, IMB, Umeå University, this branching allows first-order
tactile neurons not only to send signals to the brain that something has
touched the skin, but also process geometric data about the object touching the
skin.
"Our work has shown that two types of first-order tactile
neurons that supply the sensitive skin at our fingertips not only signal
information about when and how intensely an object is touched, but also
information about the touched object's shape" says Andrew Pruszynski, who
is one of the researchers behind the study.
The study also shows that the sensitivity of individual neurons
to the shape of an object depends on the layout of the neuron's
highly-sensitive zones in the skin.
"Perhaps the most surprising result of our study is that
these peripheral neurons, which are engaged when a fingertip examines an
object, perform the same type of calculations done by neurons in the cerebral
cortex. Somewhat simplified, it means that our touch experiences are already
processed by neurons in the skin before they reach the brain for further
processing" says Andrew Pruszynski.
Story Source:
The above story is based on materials provided
by Umeå University. Note:
Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference:
1. J
Andrew Pruszynski, Roland S Johansson. Edge-orientation processing in
first-order tactile neurons. Nature Neuroscience, 2014;
DOI: 10.1038/nn.3804
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