KCNQ4 channel (red) at skin mechanosensory nerve endings (green) MATTHIAS HEIDENREICH
A super sense of touch may be the unexpected byproduct of a gene mutation that causes deafness, according to a paper published today (November 21) in Nature Neuroscience. The new study reveals that a potassium ion channel on sound-detecting hair cells also modulates touch sensitivity, and that those with defective channels are better able to sense low frequency touch vibrations.
“Our sense of touch is something that is really poorly understood,” said Stanford University School of Medicine neuroscientist Miriam Goodman, who was not involved in the study. The study “opens the door to really knowing how it is that this ion channel regulates the vibration sensitivity of different touch-sensitive neurons,” she said. In addition, the study shows that “defects in this gene that may cause ...
