小鼠模型 z-bo 2020-12-26 358

　　Neuroscientists at Carnegie Mellon University have used mouse models to map the sensation of cold touch to their brains. The results of the research were published in the journal Comparative Neurology. It provides experimental models that can promote research on colds and allergies and help continue to reveal the many ways in which touch is presented in the brain. "The sense of touch is inherently multifaceted. When you pick something, it can present warmth, smoothness and heaviness at the same time. Your brain breaks these senses into different perceptions. Understanding how it does this can tell us, How the brain adapts and learns tactile responses, and how changes in these pathways lead to pain and disease." said Alson Bart, professor of biological sciences at Carnegie Mellon University/University of Pittsburgh Neurocognitive Foundation Center.

　　 Touch is a complex sensation composed of different elements such as temperature, texture, weight, and pressure. Each of these tactile "components" can be identified in different parts of the brain. For example, multiple parallel signals from a soda can will activate neurons in multiple areas of the brain, making it difficult to understand their correspondence.

　　 The sensation of hot and cold is very important because these neural pathways are thought to overlap with pain, and chronic pain conditions are usually associated with abnormal temperature sensitivity. Although scientists have identified brain maps related to touch, for example, the response to pain and low temperature can be seen in the human cerebral cortex, but whether other animals do the same is still an open question. If this key problem can be solved, it is expected that new therapies will be developed and tested in animal disease models.

　　 Researchers believe that the brain regions of rodents are not too complicated. In the new experiment, they looked for parts of the mouse brain that respond to cold contact. The results showed that the cold touch sensation exhibited by the rodent brain has an amazing correspondence with the human brain area. Therefore, the cold-touch brain region mapping from experimental mouse models provides a reference for people to understand colds and allergies.