Otmane Bouchatta, Marek Brodzki, Houria Manouze, Gabriela B Carballo, Emma Kindström, Felipe M de-Faria, Huasheng Yu, Anika R Kao, Oumie Thorell, Jaquette Liljencrantz, Kevin K W Ng, Eleni Frangos, Bengt Ragnemalm, Dimah Saade, Diana Bharucha-Goebel, Ilona Szczot, Warren Moore, Katarzyna Terejko, Jonathan Cole, Carsten Bonnemann, Wenquin Luo, David A Mahns, Max Larsson, Gregory J Gerling, Andrew G Marshall, Alexander T Chesler, Håkan Olausson, Saad S Nagi, Marcin Szczot
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 pulling. Based on observations in a rare group of individuals with PIEZO2 deficiency syndrome, we demonstrated that hair-pull pain is dependent on PIEZO2 transduction. Studies in control participants showed that hair-pull pain triggered a distinct nocifensive response, including a nociceptive reflex...
December 2, 2023: bioRxiv