The experience of every odor derives from precise circuitry in the brain.
Neurons in the midbrain receive strong, specific synaptic input from retinal ganglion cells, but only from a small number of the sensory neurons.
Newly discovered sensory neurons send information related to stress and metabolism from adipose fat tissue to the brain.
Study identifies a specific protein in sensory neurons that detects mechanical itch stimuli such as an insect crawling on the skin or when one touches an object that irritates the skin.
The brain maximizes performance while minimizing cost by using data compression to help optimize decision-making.
Study reveals how the origins of pain are generated by nociceptors in the dorsal root ganglia.
Fenofibrate, an FDA-approved drug commonly used to treat high cholesterol, activated support cells around sensory neurons in mouse models of spinal cord injury, helping them regrow twice as fast as a placebo.
Contradicting conventional thought, researchers find neurons associated with processing touch sensations do not simply respond to distinct types of touch. Instead, these neurons respond to many types of touch, and to varying degrees.
Study points to the evolutionary and developmental similarities between sensory cells in the inner ear and skin.
Stroking the skin can be as effective at relieving an itch as scratching, a new study reports. Rubbing an itch activates touch receptors and recruits anti-itch neurons in the spinal cord.
c-Fos accumulates in the nucleus of peripheral nerve cells of mouse models of chronic pain. Researchers identified around 30 existing drugs that appear to target the importin alpha-3-c-Fos pathway to help treat chronic pain.
The loss of the protein neurofibromin 1 (NF1) in adult male flies resulted in social impairments. The deficits were traced back to a primary disruption in a small group of peripheral neurons which control external stimuli, including touch and smell, that communicate to the brain.
