Research News
KCNQ4 channel (red) at skin mechanosensory nerve endings (green). Graphic: M. Heidenreich/Copyright: FMP, MDC
More information:
www.helmholtz.de/mdc-tastsinn-schwerhoerige
The research group of Thomas Jentsch works both at the FMP and at the MDC in Berlin and researches the transport of ions and its role with regard to diseases. The team around Gary Lewin works at the MDC and is specialised on peripheral sensory perception.
Deaf People Feel Differently
It is well-known that blind people have a more developed tactile sense than people who can see. Less well-known, however, is the fact that people suffering from a certain kind of hereditary hearing impairment have a significantly heightened tactile sense for vibration in their fingertips than healthy people display.
Together with clinicians from Madrid, Spain and the Netherlands, Prof. Dr Thomas Jentsch from the Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP) / Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and Prof. Dr Gary Lewin (MDC) have found out that in people with a hearing impairment a mutation has destroyed a protein molecule in the ear named KCNQ4, which is responsible for the transport of sound waves.
The researchers assume that this mutation could also affect the tactile sense. They have discovered that KCNQ4 can be found not only in the ear, but also within certain sensory cells of the skin. In the mouse model they demonstrated that the defect protein molecule does not cause the tactile receptors in the skin to degenerate as is the case in the ear, but that they react with significantly heightened sensitivity to vibration impulses. With the protein molecule KCNQ4, researchers have for the first time identified a human gene altering the characteristics of the tactile sense. The paper provides details regarding the hitherto not very well understood tactile sense: In order for us to feel, specialised cells in the skin need tuning like instruments in an orchestra.
