There are two different kinds of tickle, knismesis (feather-light tickle) and gargalesis (more intense tickle eliciting involuntary laughter). In this article we review earlier recent advances in psychophysics neurophysiology touch afferents hypothesize that is signaled by populations rapidly adapted hair follicle afferents, can stimulate itch neurons via dorsal horn projections, heavily modera...

Chick sensory neurons grow to their correct targets in the hindlimb from the outset during normal development and following various experimental manipulations. This may result not because sensory neurons respond to specific limb-derived cues, but because they interact in some way with motoneurons which are responsive to such cues. To test this possibility, we removed the ventral part of the neu...

INTRODUCTION Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is an important mediator of inflammation. In addition to cells involved in inflammation, sensory nociceptive neurons express the IL-6 signal-transducer glycoprotein 130 (gp130). These neurons are not only involved in pain generation but also produce neurogenic inflammation by release of neuropeptides such as calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). Whether IL-6 ...

Together, thousands of neurons with similar function make up topographically oriented sensory cortex maps that represent contralateral body parts. Although this is an accepted model for the adult cortex, whether these same rules hold after stroke-induced damage is unclear. After stroke, sensory representations damaged by stroke remap onto nearby surviving neurons. Here, we review the process of...

Slit is a secreted protein known to repulse the growth cones of commissural neurons. By contrast, Slit also promotes elongation and branching of axons of sensory neurons. The reason why different neurons respond to Slit in different ways is largely unknown. Islet2 is a LIM/homeodomain-type transcription factor that specifically regulates elongation and branching of the peripheral axons of the p...

Gustatory stimuli are detected by taste buds and transmitted to the hindbrain via sensory afferent neurons. Whether each taste quality (sweet, bitter and so on) is encoded by separate neurons ('labelled lines') remains controversial. We used mice expressing GCaMP3 in geniculate ganglion sensory neurons to investigate taste-evoked activity. Using confocal calcium imaging, we recorded responses t...

Peripheral nerve injury in neonatal rats results in the death of the majority of the axotomized sensory neurons by 7 d after injury. In adult animals, however, all sensory neurons survive for at least 4 months after axotomy. How sensory neurons acquire the capacity to survive axonal injury is not known. Here we describe how the expression of the small heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) is correlated...

This article reviews recent studies that have examined differences and similarities in the neurotrophic growth factor requirements of neural crest- and neural placode-derived sensory neurons of the developing chick embryo. From in vitro experiments using both explant and dissociated, neuron-enriched cultures of spinal and cranial nerve sensory neurons, it has been established that only sensory ...