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What make your skin to get zany bumps in cold weather , or your palms to sudate whenfeeling queasy ? Scientists have found the answer : specific nerve cell that are triggered in the organic structure during times of worked up distress .
The sympatheticnervous system — the biologic processes that shape locomotion , intake , body temperature and the fight - or - escape response — was previously thought to be nonspecific , intend that it caused the body to produce the same reply no matter what stimulated it .
Swimmers who brave frozen waters can trigger the nerve cells that cause goose bumps.
However , a team of researchers has nowmapped the nerve cellsthat start the charitable nervous scheme ’s messages around the dead body , and found that there are at least eight distinct type of nerve prison cell that activate different responses . One type of nerve make up nipples go intemperately , another contracts the tiny muscles around hairsbreadth follicles , making them stand up and producegoose bumps , the researchers say . [ 10 Things You Did n’t cognize About the Brain ]
" We ’ve point that the sympathetic system consists of many type of neuron that regulate specific map in the body , ” the study ’s lead author , Alessandro Furlan , a alumnus pupil in medical biochemistry and biophysics at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden , said in a statement . " For example , one thing we found was that bozo swelling and nipple erecting are because of neurons that are specialized to mold these functions by controlling the erectile muscle in these tissue . "
To map the systems , the team worked with mouse , and traced the sympathetic nervous systemnerves from the spinal cordto where they connect with other structures in the body , such as brawniness or rakehell vessel . The research worker study the nerve cells for genetic difference and limit the nerves could be divided into eight distinct types with unequalled familial signatures . Although all of the boldness in a give someone have the same genes , these genes may be turned on at different levels in different cells . The researchers determined the distinct nerve cell ’s paths verify various reaction , including goose bumps , hard teat , sweatingand blood flow . Three of the nerve cell types have not yet been connect to a chemical reaction .
The researchers tell they were surprised by the varied and specialised nerve jail cell , and the organs they control . Their findings suggest the likable skittish system is coordinate into specific nerve cells to ensure they connect to the veracious part of the organic structure .
The finding may point toward a good understanding of how the nervous organization is formed during gestation , and how the differentneuron typescontrol the body ’s functions , the research worker said .
The study was issue online Monday ( Aug. 29 ) in the journalNature Neuroscience .
Original clause onLive Science .
