Researchers Discover New Way to Control Sense of Touch

Rutgers researchers have discovered a new way to manage the receptors that control the sense of touch, which could lead to more effective treatment of chronic pain.

“The identification of a natural molecule that specifically reduces pain sensitivity offers hope for new therapeutic strategies in pain management,” said Tibor Rohacs, professor in the department of pharmacology, physiology and neuroscience at Rutgers Medical School in New Jersey and a member of the Rutgers Brain Health Institute. “Our goal is to translate these findings into effective treatments that improve the quality of life for people with chronic pain.”

A natural molecule called phosphatidic acid may reduce the activity of certain touch-sensitive ion channels in the body, according to the study published in Nature CommunicationsThe study’s first author is Matthew Gabrielle, a doctoral student in Tibor Rohacs’ lab at Rutgers Medical School in New Jersey.

The researchers found that increasing the levels of phosphatidic acid in cells made them less sensitive to touch. This finding was confirmed by experiments on sensory neurons and tests on mice, where the animals became more sensitive to touch when the formation of phosphatidic acid was inhibited.

“This finding adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that lipids are key regulators of somatosensation,” Gabrielle said, referring to the body’s ability to perceive sensations such as touch, temperature and pain.

“By targeting the natural pathways that regulate these channels, we can develop more targeted and effective pain treatments that could be particularly useful for conditions involving inflammatory pain, where current pain relief options are often inadequate.”