Role of Piezo2 in proprioception We have often heard things like “My sixth sense tells me that...”. But maybe you don't know what exactly the sixth sense is. In fact, the sixth sense of our bodies is proprioception -- awareness of one's body in space. A study published on September 22, 2016 in the New England Journal of Medicine gives clues to the genetic basis of proprioception. Flarebio provides proteins and mouse polyclonal antibody. The study, led by National Institutes of Health researchers, showed that a gene called PIEZO2, which encodes a mechanosensitive protein, is involved in proprioception. In the study, the patients who carried variants in PIEZO2 were touch-blind. "Their neurons cannot detect touch or limb movements," explained Alexander T. Chesler, first another of the paper. But other parts of the patients' nervous systems were working fine. The results suggest that PIEZO2 acts at a determinant of mechanosensation in humans. Role of Piezo2 in breathing In humans and many non-human animals, there is an important reflex known as the Hering-Breuer reflex. It was first described by Josef Breuer and Ewald Hering in 1868. This reflex helps regulate respiration rate and depth, thereby preventing over-inflation of the lung. So this reflex is a protective mechanism that maintains normal breathing. Many scientists have been studying how the reflex works and when it can be disrupted, because respiratory dysfunction can cause severe health problems such as sleep apnea and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A research team led by The Scripps Research Institute, Harvard Medical School and Stanford University School of Medicine has shown that a protein called Piezo2 helps control the breathing process both at birth and during adulthood, a discovery that adds to the list of roles for Piezo2 in mechanosensation. These results were published online on 21 December 2016 in Nature. The team identified Piezo2 as a novel mechanosensor in 2010. This protein forms channels in the membranes of nerve cells in the lungs, and these channels play a major role in sensing touch. For this study, the team used mouse models to further explore the function of Piezo2. Newborn mice that lacked Piezo2 died of respiratory distress; adult mice that lacked the protein showed abnormal respiration and had an impaired Hering-Breuer reflex, suggesting that Piezo2 exerts some control over breathing in mice. The researchers discovered that the Piezo2 protein senses when the lungs are full of air: it senses changes in lung volume, acting in different neurons to convey this information to the brain. These discoveries could open new ways to treat patients with respiratory disorders.
