For the 120th anniversary of the Nobel Prizes, that of medicine dedicated this Monday the American researchers David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their work which “made it possible to understand how heat, cold and mechanical force can initiate the nerve impulses which allow us to perceive and adapt to the world”, justified the jury.
- Researchers have identified receptors linked to the perception of temperature, pain or even pressure.
- David Julius used capsaicin, an active component in chili peppers that causes a burning sensation, to identify a sensor in the nerve endings of the skin that reacts to heat.
- Ardem Patapoutian used pressure-sensitive cells to discover a new class of sensors, called Pizeo, which respond to mechanical stimuli in the skin and internal organs.
The senses in the spotlight! This Monday, the two American scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian received the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their discovery of receptors in the human body sensitive to temperature, touch and pain. They received their award in Stockholm on the occasion of the 120th Nobel Prize ceremony which will continue throughout this week with the winners of physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics. This is a small surprise, while some imagined a trophy in connection with the pandemic, in particular linked to messenger RNA technology.
Better understand the sensation of touch
In their work, the researchers came to better understand the sensation of touch, perhaps the least understood of the five senses. They identified receptors linked to the perception of temperature, pain or even pressure. These shed light on how to reduce chronic and acute pain associated with a range of diseases, injuries and their treatments, for example those associated with inflammatory processes such as arthritis.
Their “revolutionary discoveries” have “allowed to understand how heat, cold and mechanical force can be at the origin of the nerve impulses that allow us to perceive and adapt to the world”, commented the Nobel jury in Stockholm.
Additional work
David Julius is 65 years old and is a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). He used capsaicin, an active component in chili peppers that causes a burning sensation, to identify a sensor in nerve endings in the skin that reacts to heat. Specifically, it is an ion channel, called TRPV1, which is activated by painful heat sources, and which completes the range of temperature sensors already known. David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian also “used the chemical menthol to identify TRPM8”, a receptor that turned out to be cold-activated.
Ardem Patapoutian is 54 years old and works as a professor at the Scripps Research Institute in California. He himself used pressure-sensitive cells to discover a new class of sensors, called Pizeo, which respond to mechanical stimuli in the skin and internal organs. “TRP channels are essential for our ability to perceive temperaturesummarizes the Nobel committee. The Piezo2 channel gives us the sense of touch and the ability to feel the position and movement of our body parts.”
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