Inhibitory Kcnip2 neurons of the spinal dorsal horn control behavioral sensitivity to environmental cold.

ABSTRACT: Proper sensing of ambient temperature is of utmost importance for the survival of euthermic animals, including humans. While considerable progress has been made in our understanding of temperature sensors and transduction mechanisms, the higher-order neural circuits processing such information are still only incompletely understood. Using intersectional genetics in combination with circuit tracing and functional neuron manipulation, we identified Kcnip2-expressing inhibitory (Kcnip2^GlyT2) interneurons of the mouse spinal dorsal horn as critical elements of a neural circuit that tunes sensitivity to cold. Diphtheria toxin-mediated ablation of these neurons increased cold sensitivity without affecting responses to other somatosensory modalities, while their chemogenetic activation

SUBMITTER: Albisetti GW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9831669 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature