Delta Opioid Receptors Presynaptically Regulate Cutaneous Mechanosensory Neuron Input to the Spinal Cord Dorsal Horn

February 2014 in “ Neuron ”

Rita Bardoni, Vivianne L. Tawfik, Dong Wang, Amaury François, Carlos Solórzano, S. Andrew Shuster, Papiya Choudhury, Chiara Betelli, Colleen E. Cassidy, Kristen Smith, Joriene C. de Nooij, Françoise Mennicken, Dajan O’Donnell, Brigitte Kieffer, C. Jeffrey Woodbury, Allan I. Basbaum, Amy B. MacDermott, Grégory Scherrer

delta opioid receptors cutaneous mechanosensation voltage-gated calcium channels spinal dorsal horn large-diameter mechanoreceptors DORGFP knockin mouse model DOR agonists deltorphin II mu opioid receptors somatosensory processing mechanoreceptors nociceptive pathways

Studysummary This study found that the opioid system, particularly via the delta opioid receptor, broadly regulates cutaneous mechanosensation, including touch, and suggests targeting this receptor could alleviate injury-induced mechanical hypersensitivity.

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research The Functional Organization of Cutaneous Low-Threshold Mechanosensory Neurons

660 citations , December 2011 in “Cell”

This study found that distinct low-threshold mechanoreceptors innervate different hair follicle types in mice, suggesting that these follicles serve as unique mechanosensory structures in touch perception.