Touch neurons are "born" unspecialized but go on to develop specialization based on cues from the skin (IMAGE)

Harvard Medical School

Touch neurons are "born" unspecialized but go on to develop specialization based on cues from the skin

Caption

Sensory neurons found in parts of the body that do not have hair (palms of hands, soles of feet) render these areas highly sensitive to touch. New research shows these neurons develop in response to signaling molecules residing in the hairless skin they innervate. Shown here: Mice lacking receptors for these signaling molecules (bottom image) have fewer such neurons, compared with animals that have intact receptors.

Credit

Ginty Lab/Harvard Medical School

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