Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 North Torrey Pines Rd, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Department of Neurobiology and the Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research, University of Pittsburgh, 200 Lothrop St, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2019 Jun;56:167-174. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2019.03.002. Epub 2019 Apr 4.
A recent flurry of genetic studies in mice have provided key insights into how the somatosensory system is organized at a cellular level to encode itch, pain, temperature, and touch. These studies are largely predicated on the idea that functional cell types can be identified by their unique developmental provenance and gene expression profile. However, the extent to which gene expression profiles can be correlated with functional cell types and circuit organization remains an open question. In this review, we focus on recent progress in characterizing the sensory afferent and dorsal horn neuron cell types that process cutaneous somatosensory information and ongoing circuit studies that are beginning to bridge the divide between cell type and function.
最近在老鼠身上进行的一系列基因研究为我们提供了重要的见解，了解感觉系统在细胞水平上是如何组织起来以编码瘙痒、疼痛、温度和触觉的。这些研究主要基于这样一种观点，即可以通过其独特的发育来源和基因表达谱来识别功能细胞类型。然而，基因表达谱在多大程度上可以与功能细胞类型和电路组织相关联，仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。在这篇综述中，我们重点介绍了最近在描述处理皮肤感觉信息的感觉传入和背角神经元细胞类型方面的进展，以及正在进行的电路研究，这些研究开始弥合细胞类型和功能之间的鸿沟。
