Scientists discover new sense of touch

Imperial College London researchers discovered our hair follicles, the structures beneath your skin that help grow your hair. Previously, we thought only nerve endings in the skin and around the follicles let us feel surfaces. However, the UK experts discovered follicles’ outer root sheath (ORS) had more touch-sensitive receptors than equivalent cells in the skin. 

You’d think we already know everything there is to know about the human body after centuries of study. Yet, more studies discover more qualities we’ve never known before, such as a new sense of touch. More importantly, experts believe it could enhance treatments and preventative measures.

This article will discuss how London researchers confirmed hair follicles have a sense of touch. Later, I will cover other technological projects related to the human senses.

How did scientists discover this new sense of touch?

Imperial College experts used RNA sequencing to discover our hair follicles have numerous touch-sensitive receptors. Then, ScienceAlert says they used lab cultures of human hair follicle cells with sensory nerves. 

Mechanical stimulation activates the hair follicle cells and their nearby sensory nerves. That means these body parts have a sense of touch. 

Their experiments revealed the hair follicles’ ORS cells release neurotransmitters histamine and serotonin through minuscule sacs called vesicles. These substances help signal surrounding cells. 

Neural engineer Parastoo Hashemi said, “It’s an exciting finding as it opens up so many more questions for these cells: why do they have this role, and what else can we learn from them about how our skin senses touch?”

These touch-sensing nerve cells are called mechanoreceptors. They enable humans to feel a wide range of sensations, from a light breeze to a firm press.

The hair follicle cells in the Imperial College London experiment interacted with low-threshold mechanoreceptors (LTMRs), which can feel gentle touches. We already know body hair lets us feel things, but scientists still wonder about the follicle’s sense of touch’s purpose.

Bioengineer Claire Higgins said, “This is a surprising finding as we don’t yet know why hair follicle cells have this role in processing light touch.”

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“Since the follicle contains many sensory nerve endings, we now want to determine if the hair follicle is activating specific types of sensory nerves for an unknown but unique mechanism,” she added.

The experts repeated their experiment with skin cells and discovered they released histamine but little serotonin. That means ORS cells are unique. 

“Our work uncovers a new role for skin cells in the release of histamine, with potential applications for eczema research,” stated Higgins. Further research could give rise to new healthcare treatments and preventative measures.

What are other sensory projects?

Technology has been expanding our understanding of the other human senses. For example, another research group used artificial intelligence to learn more about how we perceive smell.

We know our noses let us detect odors. However, Joel Mainland, senior co-author of the “AI nose” study, said, “In olfaction research, however, the question of what physical properties make an airborne molecule smell the way it does to the brain has remained an enigma.” 

That is why he and his team created an AI model connecting a molecule’s odor with its molecular structure. Here’s how it works:

1. They created a dataset containing the molecular makeup and olfactory traits of 5,000 recognized odorants.
2. The scientists submitted it to an AI model for training.
3. Next, its algorithms predict which odor words would best fit the molecule’s aroma.
4. Monell Chemical Senses Center researchers conducted a blind validation survey to verify the model’s effectiveness. 
5. They gave 15 panelists 400 odorants and asked them to describe each by picking from 55 words like musty and mint.

The experts found their AI model outperformed the panelists in examining 53% of the compounds examined. Moreover, the AI nose system developed an emergent behavior.

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It performed olfactory tasks the researchers did not intend. “The eye-opener was that we never trained it to learn odor strength, but it could nonetheless make accurate predictions,” told Mainland.

Recently, scientists discovered human tongues can perceive a sixth taste they call ammonium chloride. Dr. Emily Liman from the University of Southern California discovered the substance triggers our OTOP1 sour-taste proteins. 

She and her team tested ammonium chloride on mice and found they reacted sharply to OTOP1. “Ammonium is found in waste products, so it makes sense we evolved taste mechanisms to detect it,” Liman concluded.

Conclusion

Imperial College London researchers found our hair follicles have a sense of touch. As a result, Neural engineer Parastoo Hashemi and his team have expanded our knowledge of the human body.  

Knowing how follicles can feel may seem trivial, but it could lead to important healthcare breakthroughs. It could help us treat inflammatory skin diseases like eczema.

Gain more information about this new sense of touch by reading its published paper on Science Advances. Learn more about the latest digital tips and trends at Inquirer Tech.