According to recent research, the brainstem and spinal cord play a crucial role in processing touch signals as they travel to the brain. Almost everything we do relies on our sense of touch, from simple household chores to navigating potentially dangerous terrain. Scientists have long been curious
The studies have implications for certain human conditions characterized by touch dysfunction.
The study found that the spinal cord and brainstem, which were previously assumed to just be relay centers for touch information, are actively engaged in the processing of touch signals as they travel to higher-order brain regions., shows that specialized neurons in the spinal cord form a complex network that processes light touch — think the brush of a hand or a peck on the cheek — and sends this information to the brainstem.
However, Ginty and his team wondered if and how the spinal cord and brainstem are involved in processing touch information. These areas occupy the lowest level of the touch hierarchy and combine to form a more indirect touch pathway into the brain. “This was surprising because classically it was thought that dorsal horn neurons in the superficial layers of the spinal cord respond mostly to temperature and painful stimuli. We hadn’t appreciated how light-touch information is distributed in the spinal cord,” said Anda Chirila, a research fellow in the Ginty lab and the co-lead author on the paper with graduate student Genelle Rankin.
“The idea is that these two pathways converge in the brainstem with neurons that can encode both vibration and intensity, so you can shape responses of those neurons based on how much direct and indirect input you have,” Turecek explained. In other words, if brainstem neurons have more direct than indirect input, they communicate more vibration than intensity, and vice versa.
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