mobanmarketEverything the medical experts knew about how we feel pain might just change because of a new discovery made in mice.
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While it’s yet to be identified in humans, an organ that helps in pain detection has been found in mice. That sharp pain you feel when poked by a pin might not be felt due to nerve endings, as previously believed, it can be credited to glial cells.
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According to a recent study by the journal Science, the newfound “sensory organ” is basically a mesh of branched cells and nerves. It responds to external cues and relays that information to the brain.
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According to scientists, unlike other known sensory organs under the skin, this one plays a role in pain perception, specifically the perception of mechanical pain.
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What is mechanical pain?
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Mechanical pain refers to the discomfort caused by pressure, pricking, and other impacts to the skin.
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Previously, it was believed that individual cells called nociceptive fibers were thought to be the main starting points for this kind of pain.
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How the organ was discovered
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The research team conducted experiments with mice to test the organ’s functionality. They measured the rodents’ responses to different types of pain.
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They deactivated the cells in the newly discovered organ using gene editing. The rodents showed no changes in their response to thermal pain, or discomfort caused by heat or cold.
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But all of the subjects showed a reduced response to mechanical pain when the glial complex was turned off.
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The study was coauthored by Patrik Ernfors, a molecular neurobiologist at the Karolinska Institutet, a medical university in Sweden.
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The discoveries have changed what scientists knew about how pain begins and progresses—at least in mice.
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Currently, they have not yet checked if the organ exists in humans, but according to Ernfors, the probability is high.
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