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American physiologist David Julius and Armenian-American neuroscientist Ardem Patapoutian receive the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery of the receptors that sense temperature and heat on the body. That made the Nobel Foundation announced on Monday.
The scientists discovered how our bodies convert sensory perceptions into electrical messages in the nervous system.
Before their discovery, it was not known exactly how our bodies feel pressure and temperature. We did know that there were receptors in our skin that send signals to the brain via the nervous system.
“Revolutionary Discovery”
“David Julius used capsaicin, a pungent compound from chili peppers that produces a burning sensation, to identify a sensor in the nerve endings of the skin that responds to heat,” the Nobel Foundation said in a press release. “Ardem Patapoutian used pressure-sensitive cells to discover a new class of sensors that respond to mechanical stimuli in the skin and internal organs.”
Their “revolutionary discoveries” have “made it possible to understand how heat, cold and mechanical force can trigger the nerve impulses that allow us to perceive and adapt to the world,” according to the Nobel jury in Stockholm. “This knowledge is being used to develop treatments for a wide range of conditions, including chronic pain.”
The discovery could allow the development of drugs that target specific receptors and new treatments for patients.
Hepatitis C
Five Nobel Prizes are awarded each year: for Medicine, Physics or Physiology, Literature, Chemistry and Peace.
Last year, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to three scientists who identified the hepatitis C virus. A discovery that has led to treatments and tests to prevent the disease from spreading through blood banks.
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