The research group of the Graduate School of Life Sciences, Kyoto University studied the nociceptive neurons of the larvae of Drosophila, and clarified a part of the mechanism by which the neurons convert and transmit pain information.
Until now, it has been thought that the bearer of sensory information is information conversion based on the "wave height (maximum value of firing frequency)" of the activity of nerve cells that receive it.However, this time, the group not only converts information by simple "wave height", but also by complicated "wave swell (number of fluctuations in firing frequency)" that occurs in the nerves of the brain. Clarified what is happening.
The pain information conversion mechanism discovered this time is that when nociceptive neurons sense strong pain, the SK channel of calcium dependence creates a wave depression of nerve activity, and the wave swell increases.This swell propagates to the downstream network as a signal of strong pain.
The control mechanism of the "wave swell" of nociceptive neurons seems to be surprisingly similar to that of cerebellar neurons involved in motor learning.Since pain nerve cells are located on the surface of the body and can be directly observed, it may be possible to more easily investigate and infer phenomena in the back of the brain that were difficult to observe until now.
Paper information:[ELife] Small conductance Ca2 + -activated K + channels induce the firing pause periods during the activation of Drosophila nociceptive neurons
