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Comment
. 2014 Jun 24;1(1):22-3.
doi: 10.4161/temp.29540. eCollection 2014 Apr-Jun.

Investigating neuronal cell types through comparative cellular physiology

Affiliations
Comment

Investigating neuronal cell types through comparative cellular physiology

Russell W Teichert. Temperature (Austin). .

Abstract

Comprehensive understanding of nervous systems would require the unambiguous identification of all neuronal cell types, which are distinguished by gene-expression differences, particularly in plasma-membrane receptors and ion channels. Toward this ultimate goal, a recent paper initiated an approach to identify and study divergent neuronal cell types through comparative cellular physiology.

Keywords: calcium imaging; cell type; cold thermosensor; comparative biology; constellation pharmacology; ion channel; neuron; neuronal subclass; receptor; somatosensory.

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Figures

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Figure 1. A few selected constellation components of cold thermosensor neurons are depicted. All cold thermosensors appear to express TRPM8 channels (blue) but they vary in expression levels of KV1.1/1.2 potassium channels (Red). The higher expression of KV1.1/1.2 potassium channels appears to correlate with higher cold threshold. Neonatal cold thermosensors express ATP receptors (yellow) but the expression is lost over developmental time and occurs earlier in low-threshold than high-threshold cold thermosensors (loss of expression depicted by both color and gradient).

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References

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