Two papers published by Nature (here and here) cast new light on how we experience the flutters and pressures of gentle touch. The discoveries could help lead to respite from the unending pain of tactile allodynia. They could also help to restore fading senses of touch for diabetes sufferers, cancer patients undergoing chemo—and for everybody else as they age.
When our skin rubs up against an object, our brain quickly paints a mental picture of it. We get a clear sense of the shape and texture of whatever it is that we’re turning over in our hand, or that’s stroking unwelcomely against us in a crowded bar.
Merkel cells are critical to these feelings. They’re found at the bottom layer of mammals’ skin, where they act as information conveyor belts, feeding data from skin cells into our central nervous systems.
But it’s long been a mystery how Merkel cells actually work. Do they resemble nerve cells—which actively encode and pass along information as subtle electrical pulses? Or do they mimic some of the cells in our inner ears—which act as tiny amplifiers, enhancing sound information gleaned from the vibrations of tiny hairs?
It turns out that Merkel cells actively encode basic information about pressure that’s being exerted when we touch something. And they also amplify and enhance subtler sensations—such as the shape of a keyboard beneath fingertips.
- More Here
When our skin rubs up against an object, our brain quickly paints a mental picture of it. We get a clear sense of the shape and texture of whatever it is that we’re turning over in our hand, or that’s stroking unwelcomely against us in a crowded bar.
Merkel cells are critical to these feelings. They’re found at the bottom layer of mammals’ skin, where they act as information conveyor belts, feeding data from skin cells into our central nervous systems.
But it’s long been a mystery how Merkel cells actually work. Do they resemble nerve cells—which actively encode and pass along information as subtle electrical pulses? Or do they mimic some of the cells in our inner ears—which act as tiny amplifiers, enhancing sound information gleaned from the vibrations of tiny hairs?
It turns out that Merkel cells actively encode basic information about pressure that’s being exerted when we touch something. And they also amplify and enhance subtler sensations—such as the shape of a keyboard beneath fingertips.
- More Here
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