Explanipedia

A Reference Atlas of the Human Dorsal Root Ganglion Open

Shamsuddin A. Bhuiyan, Saad S. Nagi, Ishwarya Sankaranarayanan, Evangelia Semizoglou, Dmitry Usoskin , et al. · 2025

Somatosensory perception largely emerges from diverse peripheral sensory neurons whose cell bodies reside in dorsal root ganglia (DRG). Damage or dysfunction of DRG neurons is a major cause of chronic pain and sensory loss. In mice, deep s…

Aβ low threshold mechanoreceptors contribute to sensory abnormalities in fibromyalgia Open

Mathilde R. Israel, Richard Berwick, Nisha Vastani, Qin Zheng, Warren Moore , et al. · 2025

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FM) is characterized by widespread pain and fatigue. People living with FM also experience tactile allodynia, cold-evoked pain, paraesthesia and dysaesthesia. There is evidence of small fibre neuropathy and hyperexci…

Robust coupling between the C‐tactile afferent and the hair follicle in humans Open

Warren Moore, Johan Nikesjö, Otmane Bouchatta, Adarsh Makdani, Pierre Hakizimana , et al. · 2025

C‐low‐threshold‐mechanoreceptors (C‐LTMR) were first discovered in the cat over 80 years ago and were subsequently documented in multiple mammalian species, including humans. Although their intimate association with hair follicles has been…

A fast nociceptive subsystem mediating rapid reflexive behavior but not affective pain Open

Joseph C. Y. Chen, Leandro Flores do Nascimento, Felipe Meira de‐Faria, Gabriela B. Carballo, Lech Kaczmarczyk , et al. · 2025

Spinal nociceptive withdrawal reflexes are widely believed to rely on unmyelinated and thinly myelinated nociceptive fibers that also signal affective and motivational aspects of pain. Here we discover a population of myelinated mechanorec…

PIEZO2-dependent rapid pain system in humans. Open

Marcin Szczot, Otmane Bouchatta, Marek Brodzki, Houria Manouze, Gabriela B. Carballo , et al. · 2024

The diversity of mechanical pain sensations in humans cannot be explained based on our current understanding of pain-sensing neural classes in the skin. To begin to bridge this gap, we dissected the neural basis of a distinct form of pain …

Contribution of remote Pacinian corpuscles to flutter-range frequency discrimination in humans Open

Saad S. Nagi, Sarah McIntyre, Kevin K. W. Ng, David A. Mahns, Ingvars Birznieks , et al. · 2024

Leveraging deep single-soma RNA sequencing to explore the neural basis of human somatosensation Open

Huasheng Yu, Saad S. Nagi, Dmitry Usoskin, Yizhou Hu, Jussi Kupari , et al. · 2024

Experimental nerve block study on painful withdrawal reflex responses in humans Open

Oumie Thorell, David A. Mahns, Jan Carl Otto, Jaquette Liljencrantz, Mats Svantesson , et al. · 2024

The nociceptive withdrawal reflex (NWR) is a protective limb withdrawal response triggered by painful stimuli, used to assess spinal nociceptive excitability. Conventionally, the NWR is understood as having two reflex responses: a short-la…

Mechanoreceptive Aβ Primary Afferents Discriminate Naturalistic Social Touch Inputs at a Functionally Relevant Time Scale Open

Shan Xu, Steven C. Hauser, Saad S. Nagi, James Jablonski, Merat Rezaei , et al. · 2024

Interpersonal touch is an important channel of social emotional interaction. How these physical skin-to-skin touch expressions are processed in the peripheral nervous system is not well understood. From microneurography recordings in human…

Slow touch and ultrafast pain fibres: Revisiting peripheral nerve classification Open

Håkan Olausson, Andrew Marshall, Saad S. Nagi, Jonathan Cole · 2024

One hundred years ago, Erlanger and Gasser demonstrated that conduction velocity is correlated with the diameter of a peripheral nerve axon. Later, they also demonstrated that the functional role of the axon is related to its diameter: tou…

Human Foot Outperforms the Hand in Mechanical Pain Discrimination Open

Kevin K. W. Ng, Odai Lafee, Otmane Bouchatta, Adarsh Makdani, Andrew Marshall , et al. · 2024

Tactile discrimination has been extensively studied, but mechanical pain discrimination remains poorly characterized. Here, we measured the capacity for mechanical pain discrimination using a two-alternative forced choice paradigm, with fo…

Contribution of remote Pacinian corpuscles to flutter-range frequency discrimination in humans Open

Saad S. Nagi, Sarah McIntyre, Kevin K. W. Ng, David A. Mahns, Ingvars Birznieks , et al. · 2023

Among the various classes of fast-adapting (FA) tactile afferents found in hairy and glabrous skin, FA2 afferents preferentially signal high-frequency sinusoidal events corresponding with vibration percepts, contrasting with other classes …

PIEZO2‐dependent rapid pain system in humans and mice Open

Otmane Bouchatta, Marek Brodzki, Houria Manouze, Gabriela B. Carballo, Emma Kindström , et al. · 2023

Summary The PIEZO2 ion channel is critical for transducing light touch into neural signals but is not considered necessary for transducing acute pain in humans. Here, we discovered an exception – a form of mechanical pain evoked by hair pu…

Human foot outperforms the hand in mechanical pain discrimination Open

Kevin K. W. Ng, Odai Lafee, Otmane Bouchatta, Adarsh Makdani, Andrew Marshall , et al. · 2023

Tactile discrimination has been extensively studied, but mechanical pain discrimination remains poorly characterised. Here, we measured the capacity for mechanical pain discrimination using a twoalternative forced choice paradigm, with for…

Experimental nerve block study on painful withdrawal reflex responses in humans Open

Oumie Thorell, David A. Mahns, Jan Carl Otto, Jaquette Liljencrantz, Mats Svantesson , et al. · 2023

The nociceptive withdrawal reflex (NWR) is a protective limb withdrawal response triggered by painful stimuli, used to assess spinal nociceptive excitability. Conventionally, the NWR is understood as having two reflex responses: a short-la…

Mechanoreceptive Aβ primary afferents discriminate naturalistic social touch inputs at a functionally relevant time scale Open

Shan Xu, Steven C. Hauser, Saad S. Nagi, James Jablonski, Merat Rezaei , et al. · 2023

Interpersonal touch is an important part of our social and emotional interactions. How these physical, skin-to-skin touch expressions are processed in the peripheral nervous system is not well understood. From single-unit microneurography …

Single-Soma Deep RNA Sequencing of Human Dorsal Root Ganglion Neurons Reveals Novel Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms Underlying Somatosensation Open

Huasheng Yu, Dmitry Usoskin, Saad S. Nagi, Yizhou Hu, Jussi Kupari , et al. · 2023

The versatility of somatosensation arises from heterogeneous dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. However, soma transcriptomes of individual human DRG (hDRG) neurons – critical information to decipher their functions – are lacking due to te…

Investigations into an overlooked early component of painful nociceptive withdrawal reflex responses in humans Open

Oumie Thorell, Johannes Ydrefors, Mats Svantesson, Björn Gerdle, Håkan Olausson , et al. · 2023

Introduction The role of pain as a warning system necessitates a rapid transmission of information from the periphery for the execution of appropriate motor responses. The nociceptive withdrawal reflex (NWR) is a physiological response to …

Single-Soma Deep Rna Sequencing of Human DRG Neurons Reveals Novel Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms Underlying Somatosensation Open

Huasheng Yu, Dmitry Usoskin, Saad S. Nagi, Yizhou Hu, Jussi Kupari , et al. · 2023

PIEZO2‐Dependent Rapid Pain System in Humans and Mice Open

Otmane Bouchatta, Marek Brodzki, Houria Manouze, Gabriela B. Carballo, Emma Kindström , et al. · 2023

Investigations into an overlooked early component of painful nociceptive withdrawal reflex responses in humans Open

Oumie Thorell, Johannes Ydrefors, Mats Svantesson, Björn Gerdle, Håkan Olausson , et al. · 2022

Introduction The role of pain as a warning system necessitates a rapid transmission of information from the periphery for the execution of appropriate motor responses. The nociceptive withdrawal reflex (NWR) is a physiological response to …

Decision letter: Precise and stable edge orientation signaling by human first-order tactile neurons Open

Hannes P. Saal, Benoit P. Delhaye, Saad S. Nagi · 2022

Article Figures and data Abstract Editor's evaluation Introduction Methods Results Discussion Data availability References Decision letter Author response Article and author information Metrics Abstract Fast-adapting type 1 (FA-1) and slow…

The Language of Social Touch Is Intuitive and Quantifiable Open

Sarah McIntyre, Steven C. Hauser, Anikó Kusztor, Rebecca Boehme, Athanasia Moungou , et al. · 2022

Touch is a powerful communication tool, but we have a limited understanding of the role played by particular physical features of interpersonal touch communication. In this study, adults living in Sweden performed a task in which messages …

Nav1.7 is required for normal C-low threshold mechanoreceptor function in humans and mice Open

Steven J. Middleton, Irene Perini, Andreas C. Themistocleous, Greg A. Weir, Kirsty McCann , et al. · 2021

Patients with bi-allelic loss of function mutations in the voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.7 present with congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP), whilst low threshold mechanosensation is reportedly normal. Using psychophysics (n = 6 CIP …

Role of C-tactile fibers in pain modulation: animal and human perspectives Open

Max Larsson, Saad S. Nagi · 2021

C-tactile (CT) fibers, a population of unmyelinated (C) fibers that respond particularly well to gentle stroking, are widely believed to subserve affective touch. However, these fibers (termed C low-threshold mechanoreceptors (C-LTMRs) in …

The language of social touch is intuitive and quantifiable Open

Sarah McIntyre, Steven C. Hauser, Anikó Kusztor, Rebecca Boehme, Athanasia Moungou , et al. · 2021

Touch is a powerful communication tool, but we have a limited understanding of the role played by particular physical features of interpersonal touch communication. In this study, adults living in Sweden performed a task in which messages …

Thin Films on the Skin, but not Frictional Agents, Attenuate the Percept of Pleasantness to Brushed Stimuli Open

Merat Rezaei, Saad S. Nagi, Chang Xu, Sarah McIntyre, Håkan Olausson , et al. · 2021

Brushed stimuli are perceived as pleasant when stroked lightly on the skin surface of a touch receiver at certain velocities. While the relationship between brush velocity and pleasantness has been widely replicated, we do not understand h…

The Effects of Ageing on Tactile Function in Humans Open

Sarah McIntyre, Saad S. Nagi, Francis McGlone, Håkan Olausson · 2021

Ageing is accompanied by a steady decline in touch sensitivity and acuity. Conversely, pleasant touch, such as experienced during a caress, is even more pleasant in old age. There are many physiological changes that might explain these per…

The effects of ageing on tactile function in humans Open

Sarah McIntyre, Saad S. Nagi, Francis McGlone, Håkan Olausson · 2021

Ageing is accompanied by a steady decline in touch sensitivity and acuity. Conversely, pleasant touch, such as experienced during a caress, is even more pleasant in old age. There are many physiological changes that might explain these per…

Modulation of Muscle Pain Is Not Somatotopically Restricted: An Experimental Model Using Concurrent Hypertonic-Normal Saline Infusions in Humans Open

James S. Dunn, David A. Mahns, Saad S. Nagi · 2020

We have previously shown that during muscle pain induced by infusion of hypertonic saline (HS), concurrent application of vibration and gentle brushing to overlying and adjacent skin regions increases the overall pain. In the current study…

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