Somatosensory system articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    A mutation in the sodium channel Nav1.9 has been identified in a family and shown to associate with cold-aggravated pain. Here, the authors characterize the electrophysiological consequences of this mutation and propose a mechanism for the pain that the individuals experience.

    • Enrico Leipold
    • , Andrea Hanson-Kahn
    •  & Ingo Kurth

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hallucinations can occur in both healthy individuals and patients with psychiatric disorders. Garrison et al. here report that specific brain morphology differences in the paracingulate sulcus (PCS) can determine the occurrence of hallucinations in schizophrenia, irrespective of sensory modality.

    • Jane R. Garrison
    • , Charles Fernyhough
    •  & Jon S. Simons

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The venom of the Chinese red-headed centipede causes excruciating pain. Here, Yanget al. identify a novel toxin protein from the centipede venom and find that it can activate the nociceptive TRPV1 ion channel by binding to the channel’s outer pore to potentiate the heat activation machinery.

    • Shilong Yang
    • , Fan Yang
    •  & Ren Lai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Learning to reinforce rewarding decisions and avoiding repeated mistakes is critical, yet the neural systems mediating feedback processing in value-guided choices remain elusive. Here the authors uncover the spatiotemporal dynamics of two separate but interacting value systems during learning.

    • Elsa Fouragnan
    • , Chris Retzler
    •  & Marios G. Philiastides

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Defense against environmental threats is essential for survival, yet the neural circuits mediating innate defensive behaviours are not completely understood. Here the authors demonstrate that descending projections from the auditory cortex to the midbrain mediate innate, sound-evoked flight behaviour.

    • Xiaorui R. Xiong
    • , Feixue Liang
    •  & Li I. Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Benzodiazepines (BDZs) target GABAA receptors to alleviate pain but these also cause side effects. Here the authors use mice in which only one GABAA receptor is BDZ-sensitive at a time to identify α2GABAAas the receptor that provides maximal analgesic activity but minimal side-effects in response to BDZs.

    • William T. Ralvenius
    • , Dietmar Benke
    •  & Hanns Ulrich Zeilhofer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The activity of sensory neurons can be correlated with perceptual decisions and this effect may provide insights into how sensory information is processed during perceptual tasks. Here the authors develop a network model of sensory and decision-making areas and propose that the dynamics across the network hierarchy explains the choice probabilities.

    • Klaus Wimmer
    • , Albert Compte
    •  & Jaime de la Rocha

  • Article
    | Open Access

    TRPs are calcium-permeable channels involved in the sensing of damaging stimuli but the relationship between calcium influx and pain behaviour has been elusive. Here the authors find that the TRP channel OSM-9 functions as an ion channel in vivo in C. elegans, and establish residues that are critical for worm pain-like behaviour.

    • Amanda S. Lindy
    • , Puja K. Parekh
    •  & Wolfgang B. Liedtke

  • Article |

    C-fibre polymodal nociceptors in primates have been classified into two groups based on their sensitivity to mechanical stimuli. Here, Wooten et al.describe how the differences in the response speed of the receptors to stimuli suggest that these should be considered as three separate groups.

    • Matthew Wooten
    • , Hao-Jui Weng
    •  & Matthias Ringkamp

  • Article |

    The reorganization of the mammalian somatosensory cortex is a common consequence of sensory deafferentation. Here, Kambi et al.show that reorganization of the cuneate nucleus in the brainstem is essential for the large-scale reorganization of the somatosensory cortex following sensory deafferentation in monkeys.

    • Niranjan Kambi
    • , Priyabrata Halder
    •  & Neeraj Jain

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The stomatin domain protein STOML3 is required for the sensation of touch. Here, Poole et al.show that STOML3 enhances the activity of mechanosensitive Piezo1 and Piezo2 ion channels by reducing their activation thresholds, and that it achieves this through its stomatin domain.

    • Kate Poole
    • , Regina Herget
    •  & Gary R. Lewin

  • Article |

    Opioid analgesic drugs act at opioid receptors to exert analgesic effects, but they also exert adverse side effects. In this study, the authors show that the TREK-1 potassium channel is responsible for mediating the analgesic effects of morphine but not the adverse side effects.

    • Maïly Devilliers
    • , Jérôme Busserolles
    •  & Alain Eschalier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    TRPA1 ion channels act as thermosensors across different species; however, studies on their role in noxious cold sensation have provided conflicting results in mammals. Chen et al. show that these discrepancies arise because cold activates rat and mouse TRPA1 but not human or rhesus monkey TRPA1.

    • Jun Chen
    • , Dawon Kang
    •  & Donghee Kim

  • Article |

    The gene Pirtencodes a transmembrane domain protein that is expressed in sensory neurons. Tang and colleagues use calcium imaging and electrophysiology to show that Pirt positively regulates the transient receptor potential channel TRPM8, and that deletion of this protein results in impaired cold sensitivity.

    • Zongxiang Tang
    • , Andrew Kim
    •  & Xinzhong Dong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The saccus vasculosus is a circumventricular organ of the hypothalamus of many jawed fish whose function has remained a mystery for more than 300 years. Here the authors provide evidence that the saccus vasculosus functions as a sensor of seasonal changes in day length.

    • Yusuke Nakane
    • , Keisuke Ikegami
    •  & Takashi Yoshimura

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Human primary sensory cortices are traditionally regarded as being able to process only one sensory modality. Liang and colleagues use brain imaging to show that, as well as being processed in typically corresponding cortical areas, different sensory modalities are also processed in atypical cortical areas.

    • M. Liang
    • , A. Mouraux
    •  & G.D. Iannetti

  • Article |

    Electrophysiological studies in some fish species suggest that proprioception is needed for fin movement. Here the authors test mechanosensory abilities of afferent nerves in pectoral fin rays, and find that the activity of fin ray nerve fibres reflects the amplitude and velocity of fin ray bending.

    • Richard Williams IV
    • , Nicole Neubarth
    •  & Melina E. Hale

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mechanical allodynia describes the process whereby innocuous stimuli is perceived as being noxious and is a common symptom of neuropathic pain. Using mice deficient in the cAMP sensor Epac1, the authors in this study find that Epac1 regulates mechanical allodynia by sensitizing the mechanotransducer Piezo2.

    • N Eijkelkamp
    • , J.E. Linley
    •  & J.N. Wood

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Reorganization of the sensorimotor cortex due to loss of sensory input is implicated in phantom pain. Makin and colleagues use functional MRI to show that phantom pain experience is instead associated with maintained local functional and structural cortical representations but disrupted inter-regional connectivity.

    • Tamar R. Makin
    • , Jan Scholz
    •  & Heidi Johansen-Berg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Neural plasticity can be mediated by cognitive processes or sensory inputs to the brain. Cardin et al.use fMRI to study individuals who vary in hearing and sign language abilities, and find that sensory and cognitive experiences cause plasticity in anatomically and functionally distinguishable cortical areas.

    • Velia Cardin
    • , Eleni Orfanidou
    •  & Bencie Woll

  • Article |

    Primary sensory areas of newborn mammals typically display input-dependent plasticity. Thomson and colleagues use a sensory prosthetic device in rats to show that adult rats can discriminate different infrared light signals, when the signals are routed to somatosensory cortex by electrical microstimulation.

    • Eric E. Thomson
    • , Rafael Carra
    •  & Miguel A.L. Nicolelis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In animals, cryptochrome proteins are thought to be the detectors of the Earth's magnetic field, but humans have not been shown to posess mangetosensing capabilities. Foleyet al. demonstrate that the human cryptochrome protein, CRY2, when expressed in Drosophila melanogastercan mediate magnetoreception in a light-dependent manner.

    • Lauren E. Foley
    • , Robert J. Gegear
    •  & Steven M. Reppert

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