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Scientists have described the neural mechanism of sneezing
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Understanding the neural mechanism behind sneezing can help you find ways to suppress the spread of infections.
Scientists at the University of Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that areas of the brain not associated with breathing are responsible for sneezing. The results of the study were published in the journal Cell, writes Eurekalert.
It is noted that the area in the central nervous system that causes sneezing was identified more than twenty years ago, but until now very little was known about how the sneezing reflex works at the cellular and molecular level.
The study authors were the first to identify specific cells and proteins that control sneezing.
According to study leader Dr. Qin Liu of the University of Washington School of Medicine, understanding what makes us sneeze, in particular how neurons behave in response to allergens and viruses, will help create treatments that can slow the spread of infectious diseases.
In a laboratory study, scientists induced sneezing in mice with aerosols containing histamine or capsaicin, a pungent compound derived from chili peppers.
By observing the response of nerve cells to capsaicin, they first identified a small group of neurons associated with sneezing and then identified molecules, neuropeptides, that transmit sneezing signals to these nerve cells.
It turned out that a molecule called neuromedin B (NMB) is required for sneezing. By removing NMD-sensitive neurons in the part of the nervous system responsible for sneezing in mice, the researchers blocked this reflex.
It is emphasized that the neurons that cause sneezing are not located in any of the known areas of the brain associated with respiration, but they are connected to these areas through their axons.
The authors also found that they could induce the sneezing reflex without external stimuli by targeting a specific area of the mouse brain with the NMB peptide.
Since many viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, spread mainly by aerosol, the researchers proposed the development of a drug that suppresses the production of the NMB molecule, which can be used by infected people.
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