Molecular mechanisms of the sense of touch

通过身体接触感知世界的能力对所有活着的有机体来说都是必不可少的。触觉对于环境中的导航、物体识别、疼痛和快乐的检测是必不可少的。它有助于建立母性纽带，并为社会行为的发展奠定了基础。触觉包括身体接触和温度的感觉，但其机制尚不清楚。这个项目试图揭示物理触摸检测背后的分子原理，并了解温度如何影响这一过程。这些研究将使用触觉觅食的鸭子，允许通过触觉专家动物的观点来检查这些一般的生理问题。这项研究将提供对触摸检测过程的机械学见解，并揭示脊椎动物机械敏感性的一般原理。更广泛的影响活动旨在在在校学生中促进科学，重点是在科学家中代表性不足的种族和社会经济群体。PI将接触到康涅狄格州、马萨诸塞州和纽约的学校，教授人们如何触摸、温暖和寒冷，以及他们如何看、闻或尝。大多数受训人员是女性、代表性不足的少数民族、经济困难的人，或者来自没有大学毕业经历的家庭。这些活动是由实验室的本科生、博士生和博士后在首席研究员的密切监督下设计和实施的。这种方法为我们的实验室成员提供了一种独特的教学体验，并帮助他们在专业上晋升为教育研究者。在许多脊椎动物中，精细的触觉任务是由覆盖着无毛皮肤的器官完成的，例如灵长类动物的手掌，或触觉觅食鸭子的喙。这些器官专门通过机械感官小体检测最轻微的触摸形式，如瞬时接触和振动。小体如何将触摸转化为电信号，涉及哪些分子，以及它们是如何工作的，在很大程度上仍是未知的。研究人员将通过研究触觉专家鸭子的账单中的机械敏感性来解决这个问题。研究表明，鸭嘴部含有由三叉神经机械感受器支配的大量板层小体。在这里，研究人员建议使用鸭子模型来揭示机械感觉小体的神经元和非神经元组件进行触摸检测的一般原理。本项目的目的是：(1)确定神经元力感受器触热相互作用的分子基础。温和的降温增强了脊椎动物的触觉敏锐度，但其机制尚不清楚。这个项目将检验这样一种假设，即降温会增加神经元机械感受器将触摸转化为兴奋的能力，并确定这一过程的分子基础。(2)研究Herbst(Pacian)小体的板层细胞是否能感觉到触摸。板层细胞在神经元核心周围形成一个垫子，起到被动机械过滤器的作用，这是众所周知的。这位研究人员的目标是测试板层细胞也是机械敏感的假设，并能够将触摸转化为兴奋，积极地为触摸的检测做出贡献。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The ability to sense the world though physical contact is essential for all living organisms. The sense of touch is essential for navigation in the environment, object recognition, detection of pain and pleasure. It facilitates the establishment of maternal bonds and underlies the development of social behaviors. The sense of touch includes the sense of physical contact and temperature, but the mechanism is poorly understood. This project seeks to reveal molecular principles underlying the detection of physical touch, and understand how temperature influences this process. These studies will use tactile foraging ducks that allow examination of these general physiological problems through the perspective of a tactile specialist animal. This research will provide mechanistic insights into the process of touch detection and reveal general principles of mechanosensitivity in vertebrates. The broader impact activities aim to promote science among school students, with a focus on ethnic and socioeconomic groups underrepresented among scientists. The PI will reach out to schools in CT, MA and NY to teach how people feel touch, warmth and cold, how they see, smell or taste. Most of the trainees are female, underrepresented minorities, economically disadvantaged, or from families without prior college graduates. The activities are designed and implemented by undergraduates, PhD students and postdocs from the lab, under close supervision of the principal investigator. This approach provides a unique teaching experience to our lab members and help them advance professionally to become educator-researchers.In many vertebrates, fine tactile tasks are accomplished by organs covered with glabrous skin, such as the palm of hand in primates, or the bill of tactile foraging ducks. These organs specialize in the detection of the lightest forms of touch, such as transient contact and vibration, via mechanosensory corpuscles. How corpuscles convert touch into electrical signaling, what molecules are involved and how they work, remains largely unknown. The investigators will approach this problem by studying mechanosensitivity in the bill of tactile specialist ducks. They showed that duck bill contains numerous lamellar corpuscles innervated by trigeminal mechanoreceptors. Here, the investigator proposes to use the duck model to reveal general principles of touch detection by neuronal and non-neuronal components of mechanosensory corpuscles. This project aims to: (1) Determine the molecular basis of tactile-thermal interaction in neuronal mechanoreceptors. Mild cooling potentiates tactile acuity in vertebrates, but the mechanism is unknown. This project will test the hypothesis that cooling increases the ability of neuronal mechanoreceptors to convert touch into excitation, and identify the molecular basis of this process. (2) Investigate whether lamellar cells from Herbst (Pacinian) corpuscles can detect touch. It is well established that lamellar cells form a cushion around the neuronal core, acting as a passive mechanical filter. The investigator aims to test the hypothesis that lamellar cells are also mechanically sensitive, and are able to convert touch into excitation, actively contributing to the detection of touch.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.