Question: Consider the following statements:
i) United states-based scientist, David Julius and Ardem Patapoutin, have been awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine.
ii) They have been awarded the prize for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.
Which of the above are true?
a) i
b) ii
c) i and ii both
d) None of the above
Ans: c
Recent Context
- On October 4, 2021 United states-based scientist, David Julius and Ardem Patapoutin, have been awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine.
- Related Facts
- They have been awarded the prize for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.
- Julius and Patapoutin discovered the molecular sensors in the human body that are sensitive to heat and to mechanical pressure.
- These molecuels makes us “feel” hot or cold, or the touch of sharp object on our skin.
- David Julius
- Discovered TRPV1, first heat-sensing receptor
- His findings on the skin’s sense of temperature was based on how certain cells react to capsaicin, the molecules that makes chili peppers spicy, by stimulating false sensation of heat.
- Ardem Patapoutin
- Discovered a novel class of sensors
- Sensors that respond to mechanical stimuli in the skin and internal organs.
- Discovered two mechanosensitive ion channels known as piezo channels.
- The mechanism of Sensors in body
- i)Something hot or cold touches the body;
- ii)The heat receptors enable the passage of some specific chemicals, like calcium ions through membrane of nerve cells;
- iii)Chemical enters inside the cell;
- iv)It causes a small change in electrical voltage;
- v) Change in electric voltage is picked up by the nervous system.
- Similarly, pressure sensor can detect change of pressure in bladder and tells us when to relieve oneself.
- The findings have allowed us to understand how heat, cold and mechanical force can initiate the nerve impulses that allow us to perceive and adapt to the world around us.
- Discoveries of these receptors are fundamental to our understanding of how our body functions. Identification of these receptors opens up the possibility of regulating their functioning.
- Using the knowledge of their functioning, treatment of wide range of disease conditions is being developed including chronic pain.
By Kameshwar Shukla
Reference: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2021/press-release/